Here Comes the Mystery - 68th Hunger Games
by intheshatteredglass
Summary: Alexis Lace always felt that, thanks to the Volunteers of District 4, she never has to worry about anything but fishing and her friends; Annie and Brooke. Suddenly, she's thrown into a shocking arena with one of her friends and has to quickly decide her priorities: survival, or keeping her promises alive.
1. Chapter 1: The Calm Before the Storm

**Chapter 1 - The Calm Before the Storm**

I'm glad I asked dad to let me go out by myself today. Between his anxiousness and Brooke's I definitely needed a break. I don't blame them of course, they're always like that around this time of year. Reaping.

I still have a day before the actual reaping, when everyone will gather in town square and be worried about getting picked, then not getting picked, and, on top of that, someone volunteering. As much as I hate the Volunteers, there's no denying we're lucky to have them. If it wasn't for them, I might actually have to worry about getting sent into the arena.

Our house is only a short walk from the docks, so I don't need to get up as early as most fishers do to get here right at sunrise, when we're allowed out. It's one of few safety procedures we have hear, no fishing after hours. To be honest, I think that it's just the Capitol trying to work us harder during the time we're allowed to and maybe starve us a bit, but we do okay. And it's safe to take out tesserae here, thanks to the Volunteers. I have, even though Brooke's always been against it, since I was twelve. Each year, I've gotten tesserae for my parents and myself, racking up a whole sixteen entries this year. Not that I need to worry.

The docks don't open for a little while, so I decide to visit Annie at her parent's fishing shop. They're probably setting up by now.

The chimes attached to the door makes a sweet tinkling sound as I walk in. Racks of different ropes, hooks, spears, and even sails line the walls and shelves of the small building. I look towards the back of the room, where a blocked off doorway leads to Annie's house. I'm about to make my way towards the door when the chimes on the front door ring again.

Before I even register who's come in, a pair a small arms have wrapped themselves around me, just below my shoulders the highest they can reach.

"Alexis!" Annie's muffled voice comes from somewhere around my stomach. I reach down a lift the girl up and spin her around. She laughs and shrieks, as if this will never get old, until I set her down.

"Hey there, kiddo." I say. Annie's thirteen, only two years younger than me, but too small and sweet for her age. "What were you doing out and around at this hour?"

"Just picking up some stuff from the market. It's not as good as what we can get from you though." She replies, showing me a basket that she smartly set down before she had hugged me.

I give a laugh and a huge fake curtsy, blowing kisses to an imaginary crowd while Annie cheers and claps wildly, as if she can make up for the missing thousands in my supposed crowd of fans.

"Seriously, though," she continues, after I've finished my bows, "You're the best fisher I know! How do you do it?"

"Do what, Annie?"

"I've never seen anyone get as much as you do in one day. Most of the other fishers will come back with a few big tuna, if they're lucky. You'll have at least five tuna, six salmon, tens of little colourful fish, and pounds of water plants." She explains, curiously. "How do you get so much done?"

I smile " You give me too much credit, it's my dad who can do all of that."

"Really? Because I don't believe you, I seen you come in with nearly as much stuff on days you go out by yourself. Where is your dad, anyway?"

"Panicking, at home. You know, with reaping tomorrow and all." Annie nods, understanding.

"Aren't you worried?" She asks, her beautiful face giving way to some of her own anxiety.

I kneel down and kiss her forehead. "It'll be okay, Annie. As long as you and Brooke are okay, I'll be fine. Besides, we've got the Volunteers, so even if we get reaped, we won't be tributes."

"But, what about Cassius?" she whispers.

I don't know what to say. Cassius was her older cousin, and Volunteer. He's been training for forever and this is his last year to volunteer, at eighteen.

I sigh. "I don't know what to tell you. Cassius is one of the best students at the training centre, Annie, he could do it."

Annie closes her eyes and nods. "Thanks"

"For what?"

"Being honest to me. It's why I trust you."

This surprises me. Annie's never told me this before. I smile. "Well, I trust you too. That's why I'm honest."

She grins, and then does something else that surprises me. "Can I come fishing with you today? You said that your dad's staying home. Maybe I can help!"

I was expecting to have the day to myself, but, honestly, I think I could use the company. "Sure, Annie, sounds great. Better get ready though, if I'm going to try and catch as many fish as you say I can."

"Yay!" She gives me a big hug and runs to get ready.

I don't know what I'd do without her.


	2. Chapter 2: Certainty

**Author's Note: **Wow! You decided to read another chapter! Yay! I'm glad you like it so far. We have yet to get to the actual reaping, sorry, but we definitely see some of Alexis and Annie's personalities and we even meet Annie's parents and her cousin, Cassius Achille, soon to be an important character in the story, if you've read the summary. Reaping's next chapter, which will be up soon, I promise!

I do not own any rights to the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. This story is purely for my enjoyment and, hopefully, the enjoyment of others.

**Chapter 2 - Certainty**

Going fishing with Annie is something I definitely need to more often.

Annie turns out to be one of the best swimmers I know. I've always been pretty good, but I've never seen anyone hold their breath as long as she can. She and I spent most of the day diving for oysters, using the nets I made to get as many as possible in one trip. By the end of the day, we had more oysters than I could count, barely leaving enough space in our tiny sailboat, the _Samphire_, for Annie and me to sit, as we glided back to shore.

The _Samphire_ was my family's most prized possession. We saved for it for months and months when I was twelve, selling everything we brought in. We would have starved to death, having nothing to eat but tesserae, if it weren't for the reef of samphire I found on the far side of the beach, which later gave the little sailboat its name.

As we glided back to shore, Annie and I organized our oysters, tying nets with smaller gaps so that we the oysters wouldn't fall out as we carried them into shore.

When _Samphire_ was finally tied up at the docks for the day, we split up the shells into the two large nets we'd made, so we could each bring home half. I walked Annie over to the fishing shop, where her parents hopefully not tearing apart the village looking for her. We did leave a note, after all.

The familiar bells chimed as we walked in. Annie's parents were just setting up for dinner and waved us over. Good, they didn't seem worried.

As we came closer, I realized they weren't alone. Cassius was sitting at the far end of the table, serving himself some of the fish Annie has picked up that morning.

"Hey" he said, momentarily looking up from his food.

"Cassius!" Annie, still holding her oysters in the net, runs to hug him, resulting in him getting a good smack in the back by the oysters. Cassius laughs as he helps Annie pick up the shells of the few that broke on the ground. I walk over and grab the one oyster that somehow made it unharmed to the over side of the room and hand it to him.

"Hey, Cass"

"Lexie" he replies, using one of the many nicknames he and Brooke, my best friend, have collectively come up with. "Ready for reaping tomorrow?"

I shrug. "Sure am. Not like anything's going to happen."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that, I've a little surprise planned out."

Annie's head snaps up at this comment. "But you aren't volunteering are you?" Annie's parents, his aunt and uncle nod in agreement, both wearing expressions of great concern.

He frowns, having evidently expected a better reaction then this. "I've been thinking about it. I mean, it's my last year, and I've been working towards this my whole life, I don't want to just throw it away. Coach says that I'm ready too!" He adds.

Annie's dad narrows his eyes, "And what if he's wrong, Cassius? He won't be the one dying will he?"

Cass' face begins to turn red with anger. "I believe him! He's been training tributes for years!"

"And how many of those tributes are alive now, Cassius?" Annie's dad shouts back, equally furious. "How many times was he right?"

Cass' eyes give him a look I've never seen him wear before, fury, mixed with maybe a bit of madness. It doesn't suit him. "What does that matter, Uncle? You've seen me train! I'm ready for whatever the Capitol throws at me! I'm volunteering tomorrow and there's nothing you can say that will change my mind!" Cassius storms out, slamming the front door as he goes, the clanking noise of the bells add to the chaos happening inside.

"Cassius!" Annie cries, running after him, her oysters a forgotten heap on the table. "Cassius, come back!"

I feel like I've intruded on something. Feeling the need to leave, I turn awkwardly to Annie's parents. Her mom comes over and hugs me.

"Good luck tomorrow, Alexis. Here, take some more oysters. Buy yourself a nice dress for tomorrow, the market should still be open. And could you go find Annie? I don't want her wandering around too much this time of night." I can tell from the look in her eyes it's taking all her energy not to cry right now. The last thing she needs to worry about is Annie. I nod, taking a quarter of Annie's oysters and leave.

I ran down the beach, to the spot where I was fairly certain I would find Annie. The far side of the beach, near the samphires.

Sure enough, she was sitting right in front of the reef, her brown hair a tangled mess from the day's fishing and the wind, and her green eyes staring out at the waters, as far as she could see, as if the murky depths of the ocean held the key to all her problems. I decided this was no time to lie, to tell her everything would be okay. Instead, I lift her up and say it as it is, as she would expect and hope for me to do.

"Annie. You heard Cass, there's nothing we can do to stop him. He's very brave, Annie, I think he can do it, if he wants to, which of course he does. Imagine what it'll be like when he gets back; no responsibilities, enough money for anything you want. Maybe you could buy your own boat." That gets her attention. Her sea green eyes, still shining with tears, look up at me. I continue, "He has been working for this for a long time, Annie. So it's only polite of us to show we support him by looking our very best tomorrow. Come on, your mom gave us some extra oysters to buy dresses." She cheers up at the idea of a treat, and we walk, hand in hand to the market.

Annie and I lucked out. A young woman, maybe in her twenties was just packing up when we walked over. Her stand was still covered in beautiful dresses, all rimmed in detailed embroidery. I found two matching dresses, one for each of us, and paid her. I think she felt bad for us, what with reaping tomorrow, because I've never bought anything but maybe a spool of rope for so cheap. I hand the smaller one to Annie.

"Here" I say, handing the smaller dress to Annie. "Now we'll match." She grins.

"Thanks, Alexis." she says, giving me a hug. "You're the best." Then she's running for home, probably hurrying to tell her parents she's okay.


	3. Chapter 3: Reaping DayThe Storm

**Author's Note:** You're reading another chapter? Awesome! Thanks so much! Please review if you have the time, I really appreciate it :) Anyway, today we get to the reaping. Duh duh DUN! Well, if you've ever read any Hunger Games fanfiction, you know what happens next. Not to spoil it for you or anything. But even with that, there are still some little bits that you might not expect, so get ready. :D

Also, I realize that the title and summary have changed. Yes, I did that. And to be honest, they'll probably change again, or at least the title, as the story continues. It's called a working title right? I don't know this one still seems way too long. If you have any title ideas as the story progresses let me know! And if you have ideas for things to happen within the story, they will definitely be taken into consideration, because I still don't know what's going to happen to Alexis myself. (sort of spoiler but not really: I haven't actually decided whether or not she'll win yet! So that must show you how much of this is up in the air right now, so if you have any input at all, it will be much appreciated! Thanks!

I do not own any rights to the Hunger Games trilogy.

**Chapter 3 - Reaping Day/The Storm**

"ALEX! WAKE UP! WE HAVE TO GET TO REAPING!"

You'd think that with getting up at dawn everyday, I'd get to at least have a little break for reaping day. But no, reaping in District Four is bright and early in the morning. At least we don't have to spend the rest of the day worrying about it then.

_Except this year, _I thought, _we'll be worried about Cassius._

I get ready quickly, washing my dark hair and pulling it up into a messy bun. It doesn't really matter what I do with my hair, mom will end up fussing over it and redoing it anyway.

I slip on my new dress, the one that matches Annie's. I didn't see all the details of it last night, but I can now see that it was definitely worth more than the price. The dress is a soft green-blue colour that shimmers in the sun, as if I'm wearing the ocean. The neck is lined with a beautiful embroidered pattern in a light blue. I can't wait to see Annie in the same one.

The best part of the dress is probably the way is shows off my eyes. My eyes are rare, even for District Four. Most of us have bright greens and blues, but mine are quite strange. A quiet brown rim gives way to bright rings of green, blue, and purple before reaching my pupils, topped with flecks of a silvery blue colour, like ice.

I walk over to the kitchen where my parents are huddled together, tense. They must have heard about Cassius.

My dad looks up from his tea and gives a weak smile, "You look beautiful sweetheart. Where did you get that lovely dress?"

"Annie and I bought them yesterday. We have matching ones now."

My mom comes over and pokes playfully at my hair. "Something will have to be done about this though. Give me a minute."

My mom sits me down at the table and hands me some bread, made from the hard tesserae grain. She begins to slowly untangle my hair with her remaining hand. My mom had an accident with a shark many years ago, resulting in the loss of her arm. Because fishing is mostly relies on dexterity, she isn't able to get much done anymore.

A few minutes later, she finishes. I walk over to our mirror and see she's done a much nicer bun with my hair. Pieces curl a bit around it and down my cheeks, framing my round face. It's very similar to what I had done in my earlier, messier version, except the chaos that is my wild wavy hair is much more controlled.

Moments later, there's a knock at the door, but the door flies open before any of us has a chance to move towards it. Unsuprisingly, Brooke, my best friend, bursts in, in a bit of a mess, as usual. Her ponytail is lopsided and she's holding what seems to be her reaping outfit in her hands, still wearing her pyjamas. She runs over to me, talking as fast as humanely possible, as per normal.

"Alex! You look so nice, oh my goodness where did you get that dress? Is it new, yes it must be new, I haven't seen it before and I've seen all your reaping clothes haven't I? It really brings out your eyes, this one. I still have to put mine on, can I use your room? Thanks!" She manages to fit a quick hug somewhere in there and then flies off again, closing my bedroom door a bit too fast and having fly open again. My dad chuckles.

"That one's always had too much to say all at once, hasn't she?"

Moments later, Brooke is ready to go, reaping clothes on and hair fixed. We say goodbye to my parents and walk towards Annie's house. On the way, I fill her in on Cassius.

"Yikes, that's no good." she says, once I've finished. "But he'll be okay won't he? He's always been so good in training."

I nod, trying to convince myself as much as convince Brooke. "I'm sure he'll do great."

Annie's waiting for us outside her house. When Brooke sees her, she goes off on a whole speech about how next year we all need to match. "You guys are so cute, you look like sisters. Except Annie has lighter hair. And Lex, you've always had your gorgeous eyes."

"We'd better get going, we're going to be late." I say, brushing off the compliment. Annie leads us to the square, giggling a little bit. I know it seems a bit weird, but I've always been singled out for my eyes. They're different, strange, and they've always been a bit more curse than a gift. They're pretty, sure, but the stares I get at school are really too much. People say I'm unnatural, because of them. Brooke and Annie always tell me they're just jealous. I'm not convinced that's always the case.

The square is quite full by the time we get there. Our escort, Zéle, is apparently waiting to make a grand entrance this year, as he's nowhere to be found. Good, I can only look at him for so long.

It turns out Finnick, last year's victor, is already being put to work as a mentor. He used to be in my year in school, but, of course, he doesn't have to go anymore. It's a shame, he was one of the only people who understood my feelings about my eyes, he has a similar problem with his good looks. But the difference is, his sponsor were right, he's really handsome. And me? I'm just the girl with the crazy eyes. Not the beautiful eyes, the mesmerizing eyes. Just plain creepy. Nice, huh?

I nod to Finnick as Brooke and I leave Annie and go stand right in the middle of the crowd with the fifteen year olds. He winks back and I smile, knowing that's just what he does now. I look over at the woman who sits next to him, and see that it's Nereida, the victor of the 57th Hunger Games. Looks like they finally gave poor Mags a break, after her success last year with Finnick.

The mayor begins the reaping now, telling us about the Dark Days, and all that. I mean really, this stuff happened almost 70 years ago, can't the Capitol just _let it go_? There's next to no one left who was alive during the Dark Days anyway.

I realize I've begun to tune out when suddenly Zéle is there, his bright blue hair and green skin always scaring me awake. It's not just that though. I believe that he actually tries to "blend in" with us in District Four, you know, so we like him more. Or make that, at all. Unfortunately for him, dressing as a merman, tail, scales, bare chest, and all, isn't the way to win over a district crowd. He's crossing over the boys' bowl, as he always does first. I don't have a second to pray to stop what's about to happen when I hear Cassius' voice yell, "I volunteer as tribute!"

Zéle's fish-like face breaks into what I believe is a grin, as Cassius walks confidently up to the stage. "And what is your name?"

"I am Cassius Achille, and I'm ready for whatever the Hunger Games have for me." I'm sure he's playing the Capitol just right. I can just imagine legions of fans just waiting to sponsor him, just as they did Finnick. Finnick himself, however, has a sour look on his face. Perhaps he recognizes Cassius through me or Annie.

Meanwhile, Cassius is looking just as a tribute should, smirking at the crowd, looking over the girls as if he's ready to slaughter any one of us. It's making me sick, I've never seen him like this before. He knows Annie and me are among these girls, doesn't he? Does he care?

Just then, Zéle comes back to the microphone, a slip of paper that probably doesn't matter in his hand. But, why has no one volunteered yet? Usually they do by now…

"And our female tribute is…Alexis Lace!"

And all eyes turn to me.


	4. Chapter 4: On the Stage of Panem

**Author's Note: **Yes, I probably could have named this chapter better. But it's pretty short, and that's literally what it's about. Just because it's short does not mean it's not important though! Thanks for still reading, and I hope I'll continue to see you everyday, because that's how I'm trying to put out the chapters, but I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep that up because I have Chapter Five done, but I don't know when I'll do Chapter Six...(or seven, ect.) So you'll at least see me tomorrow! Thanks for sticking with me as I try to figure this out!

I don't own any right to The Hunger Games.

**Chapter Four - On The Stage of Panem**

You'd probably expect a bigger reaction for me, given the fact that my whole world is quietly crumbling to the ground. But honestly? While I was walking up to the stage, I still believed someone was planning to volunteer, but they were sure taking their time. I climbed up the steps and went to stand next to Cassius, watching the audience expectantly. Not a trace of fear on my face, just raised eyebrows and probably a look in my eyes saying that I was waiting for something to happen. My expression and Cassius' probably mirrored each other quite well.

Zéle looks out at the crowd. "Well? Any volunteers for this lovely young lady?"

I watch the eighteen year old crowd, expecting someone to run up the stairs and willingly jump to her doom. But the girls is still and silent, all giving off the same emotion. Pity.

Zéle looks back at me, "Well, congratulations then, to our newest tribute, Miss Alexis Lace!"

Wait, what? No no no no, he's kidding right? Seriously? Me? Of all the years for the volunteers to wimp out, it had to be today? And not only that, but with Cassius coming in with me? Oh, that's just lovely. This just couldn't get any better.

I catch a glimpse of my face in one of the screens above the square, but the girl shown does not look like me. Who else could she be though; standing in the same spot as me, with the same eyes. There's only one other woman on stage and that's Nereida, and she certainly doesn't have those eyes.

My odd, crazy eyes don't, however, reflect what I'm feeling. It seems my face was frozen in my look of boredom, of expectancy. Good, I might as well keep it that way. If I'm going to win these Games, I need to start off looking strong. Strong enough to kill what's in my path; the other tributes.

My body shudders then, as I realize what not just losing, but winning would mean. For me to win, the boy standing in front of me, the one I've known all my life and might as well be my cousin as well as Annie's, must die.

I realize that the audience, particularly the Capitol audience, might be able to see me shaking, not exactly the picture of a victor tribute. And if they don't think I'll win, I don't get sponsors. No matter what my plan will be, sponsors are vital. With this in mind, I manage to push my thoughts away. For now.

I look over to my two friends on this stage with me to see how they are handling this. Finnick catches my eye and nods to me, trying to stay strong for me I suppose, but I can see he's biting his lip as hard as he can. I feel bad for him. His first year as mentor and I'm one of the tributes.

Cassius, on the other hand, looks even better than before I was reaped. He's completely changed from the guy I knew even last night; he's cool and confident, and definitely a bit too cocky. My head spins. This is all wrong. That's not Cass, Cass is kind, funny, and easygoing, not menacing, robotic, and cold. When Zéle tells us to shake us to shake hands, he grabs my hand and nearly squeezes the life out of it. Surely he knows that that isn't at all comforting. I look up at him, and my stomach drops to the floor. The smirk on his face tells me that the handshake was every bit as painful as he meant it to be. That he'll stop at nothing to win these Games and become victor. That he'll stop at nothing to kill me, his newest target.

Oh no.

I let go of his hand as quickly as possible but continue to stare at him, as if my gaze will knock some sense into him. But it doesn't. He looks back at me, his eyes cold and calculating, searching for weakness in my gaze.

I most certainly wasn't going to give him that satisfaction. I stood my ground, defiantly. My weird eyes for once doing me a favour of looking a bit crazy, because he steps back a little and looks out at the crowd again, face pink. That's when I frown, I didn't mean to hurt his image, I just want the real Cass back.

I look back at the audience too, and Zéle grabs my hand in one of his and Cassius' in the other. "Ladies and gentleman, I give you the tributes of District Four!"


	5. Chapter 5: Pearls and Promises

**Author's Note: **Sorry, I missed yesterday. Well, here's the goodbyes, a key chapter. Thanks for reading!

**Chapter 5 - Pearls and Promises**

The Justice Building is the most fancy thing I've ever seen, but not the most beautiful. Man, forcing nature to do its bidding, to form these cold stone walls is not beautiful, at least, not in the way my ocean is. The ocean. I remind myself I must get a glimpse of it, of my home, before I leave. I may never see the water again.

I still can't believe all this is happening. I was never meant to be in the Games. In District Four, the games were done by choice, not force. Of course I had to be the exception to that, like most things. Thanks a lot, Volunteers.

I collapse onto the red couch and immediately feel drowsy; this is the softest thing I've ever felt. It feels like hours later that the door bursts open and Brooke flies in to find me still there, petting the soft fabric.

She frowns at the couch. "It's nice, isn't it? Velvet. Expensive stuff. We've got some back home."

Yes. Back home. Now that I think of it, that must be why Brooke's looking around this place as if it's going to collapse on her; it reminds her of home.

Okay, well, not exactly home. But of what her parents have done to get her the house she lives in, and what they expect her to do in the near future; volunteer and win the Games.

I bring my thoughts back to the present just as Brooke clears the rest of the space between us and wraps me in a huge bear hug. I can now see that she's shaking more than I am.

Brooke pulls back, wiping tears from her face and sighing. "You're being so strong about this." Brooke says, "I really think you can do it, you know."

I don't want to hurt her, but I also don't want to get her hopes up. "What about Cassius, Brooke? What about the other tributes? How can I kill innocent kids?"

She sits upright, a little bit stronger, and wipes the tears from her face. "Those are Volunteers you're talking about Alex. They'll kill everyone else for the fun of it. Is that really innocent?" I see the pain in her eyes as she says all this, probably quite strongly directly at her parents, but what she says gives me hope. And maybe a bit of anger.

"And Cass? What does that make Cass, Brooke? Or your parents?"

She sighs, "Let's not fight now, Lex. I don't want to leave you like that. But you're going to need to sort out your feelings for Cassius before you get into that arena. Speaking of which," she says, perking up a bit. "Did you see the way Cassius was looking at you when you were shaking hands? You look at him and he blushed. He _blushed_, Alex! And I think you did too! You don't like him, do you? Do you?" She grins and then goes on, as if I answered her question. "You do! Ha! Knew it! Wooooow, who would've thought Lexie Lace would have a _crush_…" She wiggles her eyebrows at me and I can't help but start laughing with her. She's kidding of course. She knows Cass is like a brother to me.

We laugh for a while and it takes me a long time to realize what's really happening. I look over at Brooke's laughing face, trying to memorize every detail of her happiness. Her smile starts to fade as she too, comes back to reality. I go to give her a hug, but suddenly the Peacekeepers are there, hauling Brooke out of the room while she kicks and screams to get back. I jump to my feet and yell, "WAIT!", knowing it's useless. I'll never see my best friend again.

I slump back on the couch and return to the velvet, petting the velvet. Only this time, I see what Brooke saw in it, and I'm angry at the thought of her. Brooke, my wonderful, crazy best friend, yanked from my arms in the middle of a laugh that should've never ended. I begin to stroke the velvet backwards, making odd, angry patterns in the fabric.

Just then, my parents walk through the door. I take a deep breath and try to control my emotions. If anyone, I need to be strong for them, but when I look over at their faces, my parents' faces, my dad's weak smile, and my mom's uncontrolled sobbing and know that my own tears will soon follow.

And they do.

They're there, holding me together on the velvet couch, telling me lies like that I'm okay, and it will all be okay, and that nothing's wrong. It's not very convincing, but I'm running out of tears near the part where my mom grabs one of my shoulders and turns me to face her with her one arm.

"Listen to me Alexis, you can do this." she says. "Really. I'm not kidding or trying to make you feel better, I really think you can. You've taken care of me, dad, and yourself for, how many years now? Eight years? If you can take care of three people for eight years, I think you can manage to take care of yourself for, what, three weeks? Three weeks in the Capitol and you'll be right back in District Four, in a beautiful Victor's Village house. With us."

"We're so proud of you, Alexis." she continues, "Just know that we're thinking of you, whatever happens, we're with you."

And then Peacekeepers lead them quietly, without protest, from the room.

I turn from the door and close my eyes. I don't think I can take much more, and the Games haven't even started yet.

I laugh darkly to myself. What am I saying? The Games began the moment my name was pulled from the bowl. I wonder which name was the one picked. Which name was too many? How many tesserae was too many? If I had been less careless, and taken one tesserae less, would I still be here?

The door creaks open and a sobbing Annie interrupts my thoughts. I turn, expecting her to run over, but she stays just in front of the doorframe. Her hands are clenched, her tiny fists are shaking at her sides. She looks up, I see that the redness in the green eyes doesn't make them any less pretty. I wish mine would look that pretty.

"I'm so sorry." she whispered. "but you have to help."

"Sure, Annie. Anything." I reply immediately.

"Please, help Cassius get out of the Games."

I curse under my breath. _Note to self, _I think, _never promise to do "anything" in the Hunger Games._

"Annie…" I start.

"Please, Alexis." she says. "I heard his parents coming out of his room across the hall. I don't know if they'll make it if he doesn't come back. He didn't tell them he was volunteering."

I stare at her, understanding what she's implying. What she says next confirms it.

"You might save more than one life, which is more than we can ask for from the Hunger Games."

I keep watching her, and before I can really think about it, the words that might kill me slip out of my mouth.

"Okay, Annie. I promise."

She walks toward me, avoiding my eyes, and unclenches her fist, holding out the thing concealed inside to me. A pearl.

"Here. A token. I found it in one of the oysters we collected. Here," she explains, pulling out her necklace, which I hadn't noticed she was wearing. It's a long, plain braided piece of string. She tears it off her neck and helps me string the pearl and tie the necklace around my neck. "There." She gives me a hug and whispers, "Good luck, Alexis."

And then she leaves, leaving me with one final glance at the last of my friends and feeling more hurt and confused than I've ever felt around Annie.


	6. Chapter 6: Confusion

**Author's Note: **We meet Finnick! Hooray!

I don't own any rights to the Hunger Games or any of its characters.

**Chapter Six - Priorities**

I know that the Peacekeepers will come to take me away soon, so I rub at my eyes quickly, trying to stop the tears. The cameras will be at the train station, and I need to look strong.

It actually takes a lot longer than I thought for the Peacekeepers to come in. Cassius must have more friends than I thought. By the time they walk in my eyes are completely clear and I'm ready. I push my thoughts of my promise to Annie to the back of my mind, and step outside of the Justice Building's room, leaving the comfort of my velvet couch forever.

The cool breeze that can be felt throughout District Four blows through my dark brown hair as we step out of the Justice Building. I'm not sure what I look like on the camera, but I feel strong. Determined. I'm just not sure what I'm looking determined to do.

I look over at Cassius, catching his eye. I raise my eyebrows to him. I'm not sure what to make of him anymore, not after our interaction on the stage. However brief, it was tense and maybe a bit angry. I don't know how I going to help him win if he spends our whole time in the Games together trying to kill me. Not only is that unhelpful, it's kind of making me feel less like helping him.

Cass narrows his eyes at me, smirking. I hate it. It's like he's judging my abilities, and he thinks I'll be easy.

_Well, _I thought, _you're going to be in for surprise if you think I'm going to be going down without a fight._

_Wait, no. I need to save him. No. Yes. No. Yes. Maybe. _I sigh.

My head is about to burst. Thank goodness we're now on the train now, because I don't think I can take much more of this. And to prove that, the second the train door closes I collapse into the nearest chair.

Cassius shakes his head dismissively and walks away to watch something on the TV. Before I can really get angry about that, someone else comes over and I relax. Finnick.

He walks over and I hug him. My hair has fallen over my shoulders and covers our faces.

"Finnick," I whisper, "I'm not ready for this."

"I know." He says softly.

"I don't know what to do…"

"I know" he repeats.

"And Cassius.."

"I know." he sighs.

I want to get angry at him for having nothing else to say, but then I realize: that's all he can say.

"What am I supposed to do?" I ask.

He stands up and motions for me to follow him. We walk through the quiet corridors of the train. Thankfully the train isn't too big width-wise, or I would never make it back.

The lights are all off in the hallways, the only thing keeping them out of total darkness are the thin windows, casting beams of light across the carpeted floors.

Finnick turns finally, and leads me inside a room. My new bedroom, I realize, as I walk in.

The room is much bigger than the size of the train would indicate. I never knew beds could be so big, or closets so full, or even bathrooms that always have warm water ready for you. And the buttons. There were buttons on everything from the beside table to the wardrobe to a panel beside the shower. I wonder if I'm even going to be able to press all of them, but I'm certainly going to try.

It disgust me that the Capitol can live such grand lives like this; never needing anything, but with more wants than any districts person could possibly dream of. Meanwhile, the districts suffer. Poor families, parents working hours upon hours to try and bring food home for their kids. Children, trying desperately to throw their name into the Games as many times as possible, in hope that they will live to see the next day. The Capitol citizens turn a blind eye, either not caring or too ignorant to know any different from their luxurious lives. They don't care for us at all. And even when they do, like me, right now, getting to sleep in a bed that would cost my entire lifetime of fishing, they only treat us so well because they're sending us to die. It's like they're fattening us up for slaughter.

These thoughts won't help me now, or probably ever. There's nothing I can really do to get out of the arena, so I might as well enjoy my life while it's still somewhat enjoyable. I skip into the room and throw myself onto the bed. It's even more comfortable than the couch back at the Justice Building. I doubt I'll have any trouble sleeping tonight.

I look over and realize Finnick is still standing in the doorway, looking around the room as if it were full of ghosts. Of course. This must remind him of his Games last year, so fresh in his memory. He probably stayed in a room very much like this one. And he probably does see ghosts around.

He comes over and sits on the bed with me. What a pair we are; him, fighting off his past, me, my future. If anyone, he'd know what I'm going through now, and what I must go through soon. Very soon.

"Do you think I can do it?" I ask, suddenly curious. "Do you think I stand a chance?"

He stays silent for quite a while, probably trying to find the nicest way to say no. I'm about to yell at him to spit it out when he says,

"I don't know, Alexis. I depends not on your physical ability, only your emotional ability."

He stands up and walks back to the door.

"I'll let you know when they call for dinner. As your mentor, I suggest taking some time to think about it." He gives a small smile when he says the words "your mentor", but it looks more like a grimace. Then he shakes his head and walks out the door, closing it softly behind him.

He's right, of course. I have a lot of thinking to do.


	7. Chapter 7: Capitol Eyes and Allies

**Author's Note: **The chapter title is different below, because that's what I wanted it to be, but...well, it was a bit too long. My sister agreed to make a cover for this story, which I'm very excited about. Hey, Maya! You're probably not reading this right now, but I hope you guys had fun on your choir trip!

Anyway, I've chosen an arena idea and now, well, you know that feeling when you get an idea, and then many others fall into place around it? Well that happened! I hope you guys are going to like it as much as I do, but we have a little while before we get into the arena, you know, all the Capitol stuff. Hopefully all that will be just as interesting though, with the other ideas that filled in after the arena.

Well, I'd better stop before I give something away. I don't own the Hunger Games trilogy. My little ideas have yet to be that brilliant.

**Chapter Seven - Choices, Capitol Eyes, Cheesecake, and Allies**

_This is so unfair._ I think to myself. _So completely unfair._

I know I'll need to get over this thought to move on, so I keep at it. Somehow, I'm not sure that that is the way to go about it, but I don't care.

_Unfair, Capitol. Unfair, Volunteers. Unfair, Cassius. Unfair, Annie._

Annie. That's the one that's really going to hurt. Does my friend really not want me to come back? Between me and her cousin, aunt and uncle, she chose them. I understand of course, why she did it, but it doesn't mean that I accept it. Does she not understand the cost of this promise, what it will really mean to follow through?

I think then, of Cassius's parents, and a bit more understanding enters my mind. Not acceptance, understanding. Cass' parents are wonderful, supportive, and kind. But fragile, they are very fragile. A single misplaced word can send them flying through nightmare after nightmare from a past they refuse to explain. I spend quite a bit of time with Cass' family as well as Annie's, but I never understood their pain.

I could never kill Cass, not after all these years. I don't know how they've trained him at that gym, but I'm worried he'll kill me as easily as a bloodbath tribute, without batting an eye, moving on before my cold, dead body hits the ground, before my blood can stain his shoes.

I don't know. Maybe I'm judging him completely wrong, maybe this is all just for show, for we have only been on camera together since we were entered in the Games. Yes, I hope that's it. He can't really be like this, or I've never known Cassius Achille.

I won't kill Cassius, but hopefully it doesn't come down to that. Maybe he'll be hunted down by one of the other Volunteers when the pack breaks up. He'll join them, I'm sure. At least at first. I wonder if they'll take me; I'll need to stay close to Cass if I'm to protect him as long as I can.

But, how long can I protect him? If it comes down to us, the final two, could I still protect him. Would I be able to?

Unfair, Games. Unfair how they force old friends to kill each other, unfair how they tear families apart. And not just the Achilles. What about the other tributes? I understand what Brooke said about the other Volunteers, it is their own fault they are where they are and that they're doing what they're doing. Sure. But what of the outer districts? What of the people who were reaped, like me, and are just trying to get back to their families? How can I ruin not only their lives, but their families, their friends. People who I don't even know exist could be ruined by my actions. Unfair to us all.

Finnick soft knocking at my door interrupts my anger. Dinner. And Cass.

_Fantastic. _I think, as I call to tell him I'll be right over. I shower as quickly as I can, pressing random buttons. By the time I finish, I'm freezing and burning on random places all over my body and I smell like an entire Capitol garden and kitchen. Who knew that cinnamon lavender arms would smell so weird!

As soon as I step out, fans in the floor blow warm air around me and I'm dry in seconds, my hair untangled and flowing down my back, though it still smells like a mix of flowers and spices.

I look through my now gigantic closet and select a black knee-length skirt and a blue shirt that reminds me of the sky. I put my pearl necklace back on and head towards whatever hell is waiting for me in the dining cart.

Dinner is completely silent, besides the occasional comment from Zéle, who doesn't seem to sense the tension in the room and continues to chat with no one. He's made remarks from everything about the Capitol to District Four's weather, and no one else has given more than a few words in response to his various questions. That is, until he asks about my eyes.

"You must have been to the Capitol before, my dear, haven't you?" he asks me suddenly.

I look over, eyebrows raised. "What do you mean?" I say, carefully. Right now, I have good reason to despise everything about the Capitol, from Zéle's skin to the train itself.

Zéle, continues, skipping over the stiffness in my reply. He's probably just pleased I replied at all. "Well, your eyes, dearie! Surely you had them done at one of our salons! I don't know why you didn't want to do anything else though, you could have used it."

I feel my face getting red and angry. Not that he thought I was ugly for seeming "natural", but my eyes. Does he really think I'd loved his Capitol so much as to want to copy their styles? Finnick looks at me warningly from across the table, probably sensing what's coming. But I don't care. I tell Zéle exactly what I think.

"Do you really think," I say slowly, volume rising with every word. "that I'd love your Capitol so much as to want to copy your styles? They look stupid! Why, if I even had the money for it, would I waste it on looking like a freak? You know what we do with any money with get in the districts, Zéle? We try to keep our families from starving to death, not keep them from being a fashion crime."

The table is silent. Not even Zéle speaks anymore. It seems my outburst left him in a state of complete shock, his mouth wide open, eyes bulging, not even able to eat any of his precious Capitol food, which, I hate to admit, is delicious. We're eating what appears to be stuffed tuna, filled with a spicy sauce that leaves your tongue burning. It's delicious, I've never had anything so filling in my entire life, although, for all I know, I might have fished this tuna from our waters myself. How weird that would be, for me to be feeding myself in the future, preparing myself for slaughter before I knew I was going to be slaughtered. I know some of the people I sell fish to send it off to the Capitol, but I don't know where it ends up after that. It might have ended up on all the tributes plates today. How odd, for me to be feeding the people, the children I will need to kill in a week, unknowingly. I blink, and give myself a shake, as if it will expel the thought from me. I can't be thinking like that now.

I look over at Zéle. He's sort of recovered from my outrage earlier, trying to pick up his conversation again. I sigh. It's not his fault I'm here, he probably doesn't even know what happens in the Districts, that we don't live like they do. I think of his merman's costume, how he seems to want us to like him. I sigh inwardly, again. It's not his fault I'm here, he's innocent.

"They're natural. My eyes." I say finally, into the tablecloth.

Zéle looks up, and his gaze relaxes a bit. He nods, quietly, and looks back down at his food. I guess it's going to take more than that for his forgiveness. I'm about to say something when his curiosity seems to take over, his anger vanishing from his face.

"Really?" he asks, peering at me. "Natural?"

I smile, relieved at this kindness at hadn't expected.

"Yes, I was very lucky to get them. We don't have the treatments that you do in the Capitol back home to make us look so nice." I add. I figure a bit of sucking up is necessary, seeing what I had said before.

He smiles back. "Thank you. You are lucky, you know. Those eyes will give you an edge."

I'm shocked by this. My eyes have never done me any good. "Really?"

"Oh yes. The Capitol citizens will just love you for them. I'd say you have a good amount of sponsors in the bag already, because of them."

"And sponsors can make the difference between life and death." Nereida, who's been quiet this entire time, chimes in. "Just ask Finnick." It's true. If it weren't for his crowds of sponsors, Finnick probably wouldn't be sitting across from me today. His vigorous nodding, through his pile of tuna fish, confirms it.

He swallows and says, "Very true. Now, we'll be in the Capitol by sometime before lunch tomorrow. You two," looking at me and Cassius, who's taking in as much mentor advice as he can, even if the mentor in question is three years younger than him. ", you two should watch the reapings. Know what you're up against."

Cass basically sprints to the couch in the TV room beside us, leaving the dessert plates, which just arrived in the dust. Finnick, Zéle, Nereida, and I look at each other, then grab as much dessert as we can hold before following him.

Cass has already found the remote for the television and it is broadcasting the start of the District One reapings already. He looks eager, almost savage as he watches his competition and possible allies take the stage in District One. It's disgusting. I go to sit in a chair beside the couch, one with a table in front of it where I can sort through my desserts.

Cassius seems to be trying to memorize every detail about each tribute. I'm paying attention, but not too much. Only if one is very different. I don't want to get to know these people that well. Good thing I had the foresight to bring food. If anything can distract you from something like this, it's delicious Capitol cheesecake.

Through my mountain of cakes and cookies, I manage to remember a couple of details. A young boy from 3, who must be twelve but looks more like ten. The regular Volunteers from One, Two, and Four, except for me, but I'm glad to see I still look strong. A scary looking 17-year-old boy from Six gets called up sometime around when I finished my food. The fact that he looks so terrifying is helped by the wide path made from him by his fellow 17-year-olds. When he gets to the stage I register the grin on his face and the wideness of his eyes. I wonder if he might not be entirely sane.

The rest of the outer districts pass by fairly normally after 6, with the exception of the girl from 7, who's arm is in a makeshift sling, and the poor boy from 9, who faints when he's called. I pity them both, starting the Games with a weakness, especially the boy after Cassius starts to laugh at him. I'm seriously reconsidering my promise when Nereida clicks the TV off and tells the two of us to get to bed.

"Get some sleep while you can." she says seriously. "And watch out for that boy from Six, I didn't like the look of him."

Cassius and I walk off towards our rooms together. The hallways are dark and quiet and I realize this is the first time we've been alone together since the stage. Without cameras capturing our every move.

I look up at Cass, but he keeps his gaze straight ahead, his expression clear and blank. He'll join those Volunteers from One and Two I saw on the screen, no doubt. Then I wonder if they'll let me in, or if Cass will be joining them in hunting me down.

We're about to split off to go to our separate rooms when Cassius finally looks over at me, and I want to sigh with relief. His eyes, his expression, they're finally the way he looked before the Games, the way I knew him to be.

"Allies?" he asks quietly.

"Of course." I agree, instantly.

His small smile becomes a smirk. A teasing one, like all those times back home in Four. "You smell wonderful, by the way. I see you've tried the showers."

He grins, then turns and walks into his room. I watch him go, then turn and close my own door behind me. I flop onto the bed, exhausted, confused, and still in my new Capitol clothes, wondering what the next day will hold.


	8. Chapter 8: Real or Not Real

**Author's Note:** I'm so sorry , I was really busy this week. Good news though, we're finally in the Capitol! Well, good news for us, not exactly for Alex.

I don't own any rights to The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

**Chapter Eight - Real or Not Real?**

We're in the arena already. I don't remember much about the interviews and training, it's all a bit hazy. I'm with Cassius, and we're running across a sandy beach. There's something behind us, and I know it's trying to catch up. I don't understand what's happening, but I know I don't want whatever's behind me anywhere near me.

Suddenly, I trip and fall, sprawled on the sand. The salty water that reminds me so much of home splashes my legs. I look up to see what's happened and I see Cassius, still running away. I vaguely see the image, a moment, where his foot sticks out in front of mine and pulls my leg out from under me. _Sorry_, he mouths, then turns away and keeps on running.

I get up to my knees quickly, only to be knocked right back down by our pursuers. I feel hands tackle me to the ground and I get flipped over, face no longer looking into the sand but into the face of that scary boy from Six. His eyes are wide and blank, irises so dark I can't see where they end and his pupils begin. I begin to shiver violently, even though I can feel the warmth of the Gamemakers' artificial sun on my face, and he grins at most terrible smile. I scream for Cassius, but I hear no reply but Six's laughter, deranged and haunting. Six leans back just enough to reach for a sword at his side. He's about to plunge it into my neck when I hear yelling in the distance. The world becomes much too bright and then the fake sun blinds me.

I wake up, thrashing and screaming. When I start to calm down, I find myself covered in blankets of silk, not water and sand. I'm also being pinned down by Finnick, not Six, who sits quietly at my side, hands pushing hard against my shoulders in an attempt to stop me from trashing. It must have been his voice I heard yelling.

I'm breathing hard, I think you'd call it hyperventilating. Finnick moves his hands from my shoulders to my hair, stroking it kindly until I've calmed down. When my breathing has finally relaxed, I push off the awful blankets and sit on the floor.

Finnick presses a few buttons on the bedside table and, just a few minutes later, a platter of pastries slides out of the wall, still looking warm and fresh. He hands me a curved roll, shaped like a half moon. It looks delicious, soft and flaky.

"They call it a "croissant"." He says. "They're delicious."

I bite into it and smile. Excellent. But I know it wasn't for the taste that he picked these particular rolls. Salty, half moon shaped bread probably reminds him of home as much as it does me. Admittedly, there's no seaweed or anything in these rolls, but they're very close. I like them.

Of course, my friend and mentor would know exactly what I need. A taste of home. I sit there quietly for a second, then realize there's something else I should run by my mentor.

"Cassius and I made an alliance." I tell him. Maybe he'll have advice for me.

He nods, probably expecting that. "District partners should help each other."

"There's another thing though." I say, thinking maybe he can help. "It's Annie, she asks me to try and save Cassius."

He's silent for a little while. "Annie's the girl you and Brooke hang out with, right? The boy's cousin?"

"Yes."

He frowns, thinking for a second. "Well, she's really written you off, huh?"

I suddenly feel the need to defend Annie. Her choice must have been hard, and it's not her fault. Besides, Finnick barely knows her, it's not fair for her to be judged like that.

I explain the whole situation Annie's in with her family and then me and Brooke. From Cass' parents to her own, until Finnick understands the whole story. He stays quiet for a while, which I don't mind. It gives me time to finish most of the croissants.

I've lost count of how many I've eaten when he finally says,

"I'm sorry I misjudged her. I should like to meet her some day, she seems much kinder than just her one choice would make her appear."

I nod, glad I got my point across, though Finnick now got a funny sort of look on his face. I politely excuse myself I go to get ready, but not without taking another croissant.

I don't bother to shower, I know my stylist will just redo everything once I get to the Capitol. Finnick knocks on my door right as I'm about to leave the room.

"Oh good, I was about to come get you." He smiles. He still looks a little bit odd, but I decide to leave that to him. He'd tell me if he wanted me to know.

We walk to the lunch table to find everyone already seated. I slide into my place next to Cassius, and, as soon as I do, Nereida begins to talk.

"Okay, we'll be in the Capitol soon. I want you both to do everything your stylist tells you to do, no matter how ridiculous you look by the end of it. Got it?" I nod, I've seen the costumes District Four has worn in the past. Fish, sea urchins, clams. I know what she means by ridiculous.

I glance over at Zéle, and realize he's wearing what appear to be fairly normal clothes. A button-down brown shirt and black pants. I guess what I had said yesterday really did get to him. I give him a small smile to show that I get it, and he nods, then quickly looks away. I guess I really did get to him.

Suddenly, the world goes black, and Cassius and I jump to our feet.

"Don't worry. We've just entered the tunnel. Better get ready though, the Capitol is on the other side."

She and Finnick go back to eating, obviously not really interested in seeing the Capitol again, but Finnick seems to be forcing himself to eat. This must be hard for him, his Games were only last year.

Finnick ends up pushing himself to his feet and walking us over to the window. The three of us stand there and wait quietly, ready for the majestic Capitol to appear.

The tunnel gives way to open air in a burst of light. It takes my eyes a minute to adjust, but when they do, I still think I'm seeing things. Tall curved buildings, spiralling up around each other and into the sky. Bright, crazy colours, the kinds of which I've only seen worn by the old Zéle.

As we get closer I begin to see that the buildings weren't the weirdest part. It's the people. Skins of all different colours, hair styled in any way you can imagine. Tattoos and surgery has made many among them not really seem human, even among the other citizens. Through the screaming, waving crowd, I catch glimpses of wings and tails, fur and scales. I try to block out what I'm seeing in order to get my muscles to move again, forcing my arm upward, then back and forth in order to give some sort of a wave at these…creatures.

As robotic as my wave seem to me, they love it. When Finnick comes up closer to the glass they start positively shrieking, clawing at each other and pushing their friends aside, trying to get just a bit closer to my mentor. As much as I feel bad for him, I'm glad he has such a fan base. If these people will do anything for him, maybe they'll help him help me.

The five of us climb out of the train together, and the creatures closest to us need to be restrained to keep back from Finnick. They are screaming our names, mine and Cassius', but also Finnick's and even Nereida and Zéle. As much as I can't really think of the things clawing their way towards me as people, it might save my life to have them on my side. I wave goodbye and climb inside the safety of a car waiting to take us to the next chapter in my nightmare. Only this time, it's really happening.

My prep team is no less freaky than the…_people_…at the train station. They are two girls, Harmony and Melody, who are identical in every way but the colour of their skin. One's green, the other, purple. I'm trying to keep track by connecting Melody with the word meadow, which brings to mind the green grass fields outside school.

The two girls are very, VERY Capitol. Not only in their looks, but their voices are what I can only describe as an exact replica of Zéle's, only way too high-pitched. Their accents are so ridiculously crazy it's hard to imagine that they're actually speaking at all. It really helps the whole "creature" image though.

They've been buzzing around me for the past who-knows-how-long, doing who-knows-what to my face and body, but for the most part, they've been fawning over my eyes, just like my mentors said the people here would. It's scary to think that they can almost relate to me in some way, seeing as they are sending me to get slaughtered, but at the same time, it's almost comforting, in it's own weird way. As if maybe they'll take me to be one of them and will protest my going into the Games because they just can't bear to lose their new friend. More like what the Games are like for the Districts. Hey, I got Zéle on my side, who says I can't get the rest of them to see it too?

I sigh. What am I thinking? Or course I can't. They monsters love their beloved Games way too much to feel the slightest bit of pity for the girl with the Capitol eyes. It will just make it all the more interesting for them when I die, they'll probably never let me close my eyes and rest in peace. Instead of help, I'll probably get to forever stare at the top of some wooden box I'll be shipped back to my parents in.

With one last yank at my leg the twins proudly announce the completion of their work, and I thank them for helping me out. They squeal and grin happily, saying it was a pleasure to work with me. They back out through the door bowing. And not for even one moment able to take their eyes off mine.

As soon as they walk out, another woman walks in. She's fairly normal for the Capitol's standards, with what appears to be her normal skin colour, a fair amount of makeup instead of surgery, her hair dyed a fiery red and a silver wolf tattooed to her shoulder.

She walks up to me, smiling ear to ear.

"It's great to finally meet you, Alexis! I'm Emiline, I'm going to be your stylist for this year's Games. Just wait until you see what I have planned!"

She begins to circle me, making comments about the various adjustments she will have to make to my costume. She finally stops in front of me and looks at my face.

"My, my, dear. Aren't I lucky, you've already given me so much to work with, and now, those spectacular eyes! Your costume is going to look fantastic!"

"What is my costume?" I ask, curiously.

"Not a fish, I can tell you that. I want it to be a surprise for you too! Now, close your eyes, and sit down dearie. Let's get started."

I did as she said.

I felt her hands move around, brushes touching up my face and arms. Something spraying my upper body. My dark hair fought into whatever shape Emeline had chosen. Finally, she helps me step into what must be my dress. Then I'm confused, when Emeline only pulls the fabric up to my waist. I wiggle my toes around, but I can't find the floor. It must be closed off at the bottom. I'm still trying to figure it out when something is pulled around my chest and I'm handed what feels like a heavy metal pole.

I hear Emeline's footsteps back up a little bit, probably to observe her work.

"All right now, open your eyes. I hope you like it, I got the idea from Zéle's costume!"

I suddenly know what I will see when I open my eyes. Zéle's costume. My mind flashes back to the Reaping. Of course.

I open my eyes to find a mermaid, staring back at me in the mirror. She has a blue-green tail that sparkles like the scales of the fish back home and she wears two seashells across her chest. The mermaid girl holds a trident in her hand and has pretty, long hair which flows down her back and frames her face in an intricate braided pattern. But what you can see the most is the girl's eyes. They are gorgeous, mysterious, and powerful. They are the kind of eyes that you can help but stare at. Perfect.

"Thank you." I whisper. "She's perfect." She is. Not me. Because whoever's staring at me in that mirror is not Alexis Lace. She is a beautiful powerful creature, straight out of the legends my parents used to tell me while we fished. All the stories of the mermaid warriors who lived at the bottom of our ocean came alive with one look into that girl's mystical eyes.

"I think I'm ready for this."


	9. Chapter 9: Allies

**Chapter Nine - Allies**

Oh my goodness. Maybe I'm not so ready.

All the faces of the kids I saw reaped on the recap last night swim through my mind, blurring into one terrifying alien sort of face. The kind that would fit in with the Capitol. I'm led out of my room and into the dining room, where we're to meet everyone else before we go downstairs. I'm gripping my trident very hard, just in case I need to protect myself already. I've never seen someone attacked at the chariots, but hey, there's a first for everything.

I'm currently wearing a skirt made of the extra blue fabric from the tail to walk downstairs, as it would be kind of hard to move on land in the tail. Emeline and I walk in and go to sit at the table next to my mentors. Zéle and Cassius are nowhere to be seen.

Emeline suddenly jumps and shireks. She's staring just in front of me. I go to follow her gaze when she runs over to Finnick and flings her arms around him.

"Finnick! My, my, dear boy, it has been _ages_, hasn't it?"

Finnick laughs, hugging her back. "Only a few months since my tour, Em."

"Do you like the girl's costume? I tried to make them different this year!"

Finnick looks over at me, smile a bit forced. "Very nice. Alexis, Emeline was my own stylist last year. It's lovely to see you again, he continues, addressing Emeline, " we must take some time to catch up later, but we'd better head down for the opening ceremonies. Where is Cassius?"

"Right here." A voice at the door calls back.

Cassius walks over and stands next to me. "Ready?" I say quietly. I look up at him, and I guess I must look pretty scared, but his gaze looks friendly again, kind. Like Cassius before the Games.

Cass nods, and we all start to walk to the elevator together. "Cass," I say, grabbing his shoulder. He turns around and looks at me, looking expectant. "Will you join the Volunteers?" I ask. "What if they don't take me?"

He looks at me, his eye narrowed as if seems to scan my abilities. "They'll take you." He says finally. "If you want them to."

Hmmm…Do I want them to? I think of the other tributes I saw in the reapings. The little boy from 3. The quiet girl from 6. The girl from 7, with her arm in a makeshift sling. The boy from 9, who fainted. Do I really want to help them hurt those kids?

And Cassius? I know he'll join the Volunteers. And I can't save those kids if I want either Cassius or me to get out of here alive.

I sigh. "Let's just go."

I guess I'll just have to see what happens when I get there.

I wish I had Cassius' nerve. As soon as we got downstairs, he walked off towards the group of tributes from 1 and 2 and starting chatting with them. I can hear the laughter from here. He's sure to ally with them.

After several more rounds of laughter from whatever hilarious story the boy from 1 is telling, I decide to go and talk to some of the other tributes and see how they're doing. Most of the others have stuck quite close to their chariot, with the exception of 7 and 9, who are hovering around 7's horses and talking shyly. My eyes land on the little boy from 3, standing by himself at his chariot. He's wearing what appears to be a stack of wires, but looks more like the noodles they served me for dinner. He looks scared and lonely, which is unacceptable. I form a small plan in my mind before hopping off my chariot and walking over to him.

"Hi!" I say brightly.

"Hi." he answers, quietly. Hmmm. That won't do.

"Nice costume you've got there." I grin, teasing.

This gets a reaction of out him. He seems to have realized that I'm not trying to kill him, and looks up from his shoes. His eyes give a small smile before he replies, "Looks fantastic, doesn't it?" He strikes a funny, though still somewhat nervous pose. I laugh loudly, which seems to relax him more, and he grins.

"What's your name, kid?" I ask.

"Jayden."

"Nice to meet you, Jayden, although I would have preferred to meet you under some other, more pleasant circumstances." He smiles. "I'm Alexis."

He peers closely at my face, studying me. "You're the girl who got reaped, aren't you?" He says finally.

I know what he means, but I decide to drag it out anyway. "Well, yes, but most of us here were reaped, so that doesn't really narrow things down."

He smiles again. "The one from Four."

"That's right."

"Why didn't anyone volunteer?"

I shrug. "Guess they weren't ready yet, the cowards. They picked the best year for it too!" I add, sarcasm perhaps a bit overdone.

"Is that why you aren't with them?"

"Them?"

"The Careers."

"The who?"

"Oh, you must call them something else. We call the people who trained for the Games Careers, or Career Tributes. Beacause it's their life's goal to have the opportunity to rip our heads off."

I laugh. "We just call them the Volunteers. Sounds kinder I guess, since Four supports the idea. I've had a bit of training too though. We all get trained a bit in Four."

He frowns, pulling back a bit. "Lucky."

I try to defend myself. "Well, it's not like we need it, normally I mean, what with the Volunteer- I mean, Careers. But it's mandatory, lots of us don't want to do it."

"Like you?"

"Like me." I confirm.

"Are you going to try and join them, though? The Careers?"

"I don't know. I don't know if they'd have me, anyway. But I won't kill for fun, like they do. If I do join them," she says, thinking of an idea suddenly. "I'll try and get to the other tributes before they do so they don't have to suffer. If we all have to die we should make it torturous for each other, the Capitol does that enough for us already."

These comments seem to help him trust me. His face seems to relax and his attitude appears more easy. I look over at the group from 7 and 9 and make another decision.

"If I can't help you in the Games, I want to there are others who will."

"hmmm?"

"Come on." I say, gesturing towards the bigger group.

Jayden and I approach the group cautiously. I recognize the girl from 7 who's arm seems to have mostly recovered from its injury at the reaping, and the boy from 9, who had the unluckiness of not only getting reaped but fainting. He doesn't seem so weak now though, as I come up to the group nervously, keeping Jayden close at me side even though I only learn his name maybe 10 minutes ago.

The group silences as we approach, but they don't stop us from coming. The silence continues from a while as the six of us stand there, looking awkwardly at one another.

"Hi." I say finally.

"Hello." the girl from 7 stiffly.

"This is Jayden from Three. I'm Alexis, from Four." At the words "from Four" there's a sudden shift in the mood of the group. It might take more than this to lighten it, but it's worth a shot. "I mean, not that you couldn't tell from the costumes. I love Jayden's, it looks like the spaghetti I ate earlier today." Jayden laughs, and the others gives a forced sort of chuckle. It's a bit less cold than it was a few moments ago, so I'll take.

The girl from 7 gives a kinder, though still small, smile. "I'm Willow. This is my partner, Ash," she said, motioning to the boy standing beside her. "and District Nine, Heather and Spencer. What brings you here?" She finished, curiously.

I decide to tell her exactly what I think. "I know what you mean. District Four usually hangs out with the Careers, right? Well, I guess I might, but I'm not like them, I won't kill for fun and I won't kill to torture. I'll only join them to help Cassius and to help everyone else, if they'll take me."

They seem shocked by my blunt honesty. Annie's words from the morning before reaping echo in my mind; _thank you for being honest to me. It's why I trust you._ Perhaps the same thing would help these tributes trust me.

"Cassius," Heather finally says, "is that the boy from your district?"

"Yes," I reply. "He's a Volunteer, but I know he has a true heart. I've seen it. For years we hung out together because one of my best friends is his cousin. I'm worried about what the Games will do to him."

They nod.

"So, why aren't you over with them?" asks Ash, shyly.

"Don't want to be. I went to talk to Jayden instead, and now were like bros!" I give Jayden a huge grin and he laughs again, then grows a bit quiet.

"She wanted me to have allies, in case she had to join the Career group." He whispers. "She wanted to join them to put others out of their misery faster than the Careers would cruelly let them. It's the only way you can really help people in this game."

His words, truthful and kind, rest uneasily over the crowd of us. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cassius' group breaking apart for the Opening Ceremonies, but I need this one answer.

"So, you want to join us?" Spencer, who's been quiet for most of this asks.

"Well, yes. If you guys are an "us", we would love to partake. Well, for me, from whatever distance that may be." I say, probably a bit cryptically. I think the message got across though. I mean to ask whether they were alliance, and say that I will be on their side, even if I'm with Careers. Yes, I can see Willow's understood because her eyebrows have shot up into the leaves of her costume. She seems to be the leader of this group at the moment, so I watch her. After an excruciatingly long pause, she sticks her hand out. "Allies?"

"Allies." I confirm, smiling. I look at my new crowd with as much enthusiasm as I can muster. "Well then, we'd better get to our chariots. Team, Break!" Jayden, Willow, and Ash cheer laughing as our group breaks up. It seems that 3 and 7 trust me whole-heartedly now. I'll just have to work on 1, 2, and 9 tomorrow.

I hop on to our chariot, avoiding Cassius' eyes. I pull my tail on under my skirt, and then take the skirt off from on top. I realize I have a couple paces to go until I've reached my rock, a tall and round structure, identical to the one Cassius sits on. I make a mad leap for the stone, resulting in my nearly toppling over the edge of the chariot on the other side. Cassius leans over, laughing, and gives me a hand up. I sit, cautiously on my rock, and Cassius hands me my trident, his eyes growing serious again.

"Ready?" He asks.

"Ready."

And our chariot is pulled out swiftly after Jayden's.

The crowds of creatures and blinding lights await us on the outside of the building. I hear the cheers and roars of the citizens before I can actually see, but I start waving anyway. I can tell by the way the crowd is screaming my name as well as Cassius' we have their full attention, and they like our costumes. Once my eyes adjust, I glance over at Cassius. He seems to be loving the attention, grinning crazily and waving like he's trying to signal someone over from across the town. I nudge him carefully, and nod towards our tridents. He understands quickly, as you tend to do once you've known someone for so long and raises his trident when I raise mine. We fake a bit of a fight first, which the crowd loves, before clashing our tridents against each other, hard. The crowd doesn't stop their cheer, but I don't know that this means the same thing that it means back home. I guess not. In District Four, this would be a symbol of friendship, of trust, of working together as fishers. Of course, here, there aren't many things to fish, for we do that all for them back home.

Our chariot begins to pull back into the building, but my mind is elsewhere. My body might be here, but my spirit will always belong back on the _Samphire_, waves lapping the sides of our little fishing boat, wind blowing at my face, and, of course, Brooke, Annie, and my parents at my side.


	10. 10: Come Morning Light (I'm back!)

**Author's Note: **I'M BACK! School ended on friday and I've been working hard to bring you the next few chapters. I'm currently working on Eleven, which is the actual first day of training, unlike this one, sorry about that. But it will be up soon, I promise! Thanks for sticking with me, you can expect many more uploads now that the SUMMER HAS ARRIVED!

intheshatteredglass

P.S. Recognize the chapter name from anything? Free virtual psyducks to anyone who guess it right! :)

P.P.S. I'll try and delete the other chapter ten soon...once I figure out how...

**Chapter 10 - Come Morning Light**

I wake to the sounds of screams, sure, once again, that we've already reached the arena. But, once again, that isn't the case, but this time, the screams aren't my own.

I get up and quickly pull on a blue shirt and grey pants, then go in search of the source of the screams. I end up easily tracing it back to Finnick's room, hesitating only for a second before pulling the door wide open and running in. I would normally be more polite, but now isn't really the time to wait for him to tell I may enter.

Finnick is on the ground, having evidently fallen off his bed, but is still tangled amongst several layers of sheets and blankets. I have some trouble pinning him down, like he did to me yesterday, and begin to shake him. I'm not sure if this is really how you're supposed to wake up a person, but it's always been what works for me.

Sure enough, Finnick soon springs to his feet, only to have his legs catch on the cocoon of sheets he's made on the floor and fall back down again. I decide to sit with him until he calms down, quietly, for I don't know what I'd say.

When Finnick finally speaks again, it's about the day's plans. "You have training today."

"Yes." I don't know what else to say.

"Did you meet the Volunteers yesterday?" he asks.

I frown a bit. "No. Cassius did. I talked to 3, 7, and 9. We're allies now."

Finnick winced at the word "allies". It must have something to do with his Games. "Allies." he repeats. "Be careful with those, Alexis, although 3, 7, and 9 are likely to be more trustworthy than the Volunteers, you don't want 1 and 2 to be against you."

I sigh. "I know. But I trust them, really. Especially Jayden and Willow. That's the boy from 3 and the girl from 7. I'll talk to the Careers today too though."

"The who?"

I laugh. "The Careers. That's what the other districts call the Volunteer group. Because they train for this their whole lives."

He smiles. "Makes sense, I guess, even though I'd be considered one of them. Anyway, meet the group from 1 and 2, and keep friendly with your group. If you're going to get out of here, it will be good to have as many friends as you can when you go in there. It will make it easier to come out physically, but much harder emotionally."

I understood what he meant. I just met Jayden yesterday, but I don't think I could bear to see him die, or any of the others for that matter. Especially Cassius.

I decide not answer, standing slowly and quietly stretching my arms and back as Finnick silently observes me. He finally stands and walks over to me, placing one hand on my shoulder comfortingly.

"You can do this, Alexis. I really believe that." His words are strong, but he won't look at my face, eyes touching the spaces around my head. He moves his hand then, stepping back from me and staring not at my eyes, but my chin.

"You'd better get ready for training. I'll see you at breakfast."

I shower as quickly as I can with all the difficulty that comes with operating it, and then walk out to find an outfit set out for me. This must be my training clothes.

The outfit is soft and comfortable, good for movement. The number 4 is embroidered to a patch on either arm. I wonder if all the tributes are wearing the same thing as me.

The other tributes. Making friends seems like a worse idea now than it did yesterday. I was so focused on helping Jayden, who I didn't even know, and now look what I've gotten myself into. If I ally with the Careers then I'll be allied with nearly half of the tributes. And yet only one can get out. And I want that to be me. Or Cassius, because of my promise to Annie. Or Jayden, because of my promise to myself. Or District 7, or 9. Only one of us can make it out.

I let myself imagine, just for one second, that it's me that made it out. For some reason, I've always been very good at imagining accurate scenarios based on my decisions and what I know of the people around me. I can't see much, but I feel the pain. Immense amounts of crushing grief for all the kids that I doomed by being the one to come out of the arena.

Somehow, that doesn't really seem like a life. I wonder if anyone has really made it out of the arena. Just physically doesn't count.

Well, if this is our fates, it doesn't need to hurt more because of torturous deaths. I remember the one thing I did figure out yesterday. I won't let people suffer like I've seen them do every year of my life. I'll help them, in the only way I really can. And it seems like the best way to do that is if I was with the Careers.

Finnick said I should meet them today anyway. It can't hurt.

I laugh darkly to myself. Of course I could hurt. That's what this is all about, isn't it?

I walk into the…what is this place, anyway? The dining room? Anyway, I walk in as quiet as I can, and apparently it works, since only Cassius looks up at me. He's wearing the same thing I am, a black unitard with a blue 4 stitched to each shoulder. He looks more relaxed than I am, but that's not saying much. His muscles are tensed up and he stares hard at the table, not saying anything. I walk over and sit next to him, practically vibrating with nervous energy, and start shovelling food into my mouth. You never know how much of this stuff I'll be able to get once I'm in the arena. I repeat the advice to Cass, who nods and follows my actions.

The conversation hasn't changed since I walked in, something about costumes for the interview. I know I should be interested, but I've got much more on my mind today. And by his expression, so does Cass.

"Hey," I whisper, nudging him. "You ready?"

He nods back, relaxing a little. "Just a little nervous."

"Why should you be? You're already in with the Ca-…Volunteers, and you've done this, like everyday of your life!"

He shakes his head. "This times different, though, isn't it? You seem pretty shoken up, everything okay?"

"Finnick said to meet the…Volunteers today, I'm worried they won't take me."

He looks up at me then. "Alexis," he says, "I've seen you fish. Just to do that with…well, you know, less water and bigger targets, and you be great."

As he says this, he quietly grabs my hand, squeezing it slightly, then just holding it in his. There's never been anything romantic between us, so I know that the gesture has nothing to do with that, but it's comforting to know he's there for me, even if he won't be able to be soon enough.

The conversation around the table soon dies down, and Zéle insists on escorting us downstairs, _on the elevator._

"It is my _job_, after all." He reminds us, after our protests.

I snort. "What, do you think we'll get lost on the elevator down?" Cassius has to hide his chuckle in a very exaggerated coughing fit, which makes me smirk even more.

Finnick leans over, "Come on, Zéle. None of the other escorts will be bringing their tributes down, and we need them to look strong. Besides," he adds with a slightly overdone smile, "you've already done your job so well, it's about time you got a break."

And so, it is after much argument that Cass and I make our way downstairs, ready to meet our…"friends", the other tributes again.


	11. Chapter 11: Quiet Footsteps and Careers

**Author's Note: **Hi again! I really wanted to get a chapter out today, so here it is! We finally meet the Careers! Dun dun DUN.

**Chapter Eleven- Quiet Footsteps**

I wish the quiet footsteps thing would have worked again here. But no, the tributes already present are so quiet, so still that I might as well have dragged an elephant in with all the noise my soft footsteps made in comparison. Everyone whips around to face us as we walk in, eyes wide and terrified, probably because we're supposed to be Volunteers.

None of the other Volunteers have shown up yet, but Jayden and District 9 are here, at the side of the room. With them is a girl I can only assume is the District 3 girl, who stands a couple feet away from the rest of the group. I nudge Cass so he knows where I'm going then walk over to them, a nervous smile obvious on my face. I want to comfort them, but I don't want them to think that I'm relaxed, like I'm "in my element" or something like that.

They look up just as I'm approaching them, and I enjoy the variety of expressions they give me. Jayden looks pleased to see me, while Nine both looks sort of happy-nervous. The Three girl, on the other hand, looks downright horrified. She jumps up and sort of speed walks to the other side of the room. Jayden catches my gaze as we both watch her go, and it is very hard not to burst out laughing. Even Heather and Spencer seem to be struggling against their giggles.

"Nice to see you again." I curtsy slightly, making Jayden laugh again. "Although apparently I look quite terrifying this morning. Is there something on my face? Or my hair?" I pretend to swat around my head as if there were bugs, causing Spencer and Heather to join Jayden in his laughter. He's basically rolling on the floor at this point. I walk over to help him up and ask,

"Wow. You must not have many good comedians in Three if I can make you laugh that much."

He shakes his head. "Most people there are a little too…_robotic_ for my taste." I chuckle and high five him for the pun.

"Who was your friend, by the way?" I ask.

"Oh that? That's Pascale. She's not exactly happy to be here." Jayden replies.

"Boo hoo. Aren't we all." interjects Spencer.

"Yeah," Heather adds. "Like this is how I _choose _to spend my time. I might have been offered a brilliant new job by my factory manager just last week but no, I turned it down _specifically _to come here."

"Oooh yeah, I see why." I join in, sarcastically. "It's always a party at the Hunger Games, I don't see why you wouldn't. I'm sure your manager will understand."

Heather snorts, making me smile. I was just about to add to my comment when they all go silent and stare at their shoes, as if their sneakers are suddenly the most important thing in the world to them. It's only when I hear someone clear their throat directly behind that I realize what's going on.

I turn around to see Cass standing right behind me. The look on his face makes me suddenly realize how much taller than me he is. I shake off my fear, he _is _my friend after all, at least, he was. I smile innocently and ask,

"What's up?"

"Alex." He says sternly, as if I'm a misbehaving kid. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Um…" I pretend not to understand what he's saying. "I'm talking to Jayden, Heather, and Spencer." As I'm saying this, I see Willow and Ash walk in out of the corner of my eye. They see us and Willow frowns, walking over quickly. I look back to Cass' angry look, and it bugs me. These tributes are kids, just like us. What's so wrong with them?

"Hey Willow! Ash!" I call, mostly to bug Cassius. I see that I did well, because his eye bug out. Willow waves back eagerly, though her expression shows confusion. Ash just tilts his head sideways, as if he doesn't think he heard me right. Cassius pushes my shoulder a bit to get my attention and I look back at him.

"Lex." He says. "You need to stop this. Come talk to the Volunteers. I'm trying to HELP you."

I sigh. As much as I hate it, he's right. I need to look good for the sponsors if I want to do, well, anything really.

I nod, slowly. "Okay, fine. I'll be over with you in a minute." They deserve at least an explanation.

I'm about to turn back around when I feel a hand on my shoulder. Willow.

"Hey." She says, eyebrows raised. "What was all that about? Isn't that the guy from your district?"

"Alexis?" Jayden calls us back over. "Everything okay?"

I nod. "I'm just going to go over and talk to the Careers for a bit. I might need to train with them too, I'm not sure."

I see everyone's posture sag a bit at my words. They're all silent for a bit, then Heather whispers,

"We were hoping you could, you know, maybe, teach us?"

Ash backs her up quickly. "You know, we know lots of stuff about our own district's skills, but we thought you might be able to help us with the…weapons and well…what if there's water in the arena? Only District Four can ever swim."

I smile. "I'll catch up with you guys later, I promise. My mentor told me I should talk to the Careers today though."

"So are we still, you know, allies?" Jayden asks, quietly.

I look him directly in the eyes. He was so small, he looked like he was 10, way too young to be here. If it was up to me, of course, none of us would be here.

"Of course." I assure him, my expression as calm and confident as I can manage. "Nothing will change that, okay?"

He beams at me, which nearly tears my heart in half. "Okay!" He grins.

They all nod, agreeing. I turn away, ready for my next challenge. I spot them across the room. There's Cass, and District 1 and 2, all huddled in the centre of the room, which happens to be far away from everyone else, since everyone seems to be hiding the corner. I feel all the tributes eyes on me, including the Careers, as I walk through empty space towards the centre of the room. I hear each creak in the floorboards like it's a boulder I'm rolling through and not me just walking by, even though I've always had soft footsteps. I reach the group at the centre in silence as they continue to stare at me.

I raise my eyebrows, just as Willow did to me a minute ago, and try to look superior. It makes me feel awful, because I'm not trying to joke this time. I look each of them in the eyes before saying, "Hey."

At that one simple word, everything relaxes around the room, as if everyone were holding their breath. Within my little group though, not so much. But it does break the silence.

One of the girls steps forward gruffly,

"I'm Tiana, and this is Demetri." she says, motioning to the boy next to her, who nods at me. "District Two."

The other girl, who stands next to me in our little circle, smiles slyly and slides closer to me, sticking her hand out. "Shine." she smirks, tossing her hair. "District One."

I reach out to shake her hand, a little confused, and then she grabs it, and nearly squeezes the life of out it. I do my best to keep my expression casual, and stare right at her. She wants me to know she doesn't like me. For whatever reason, I'm not sure, but I'm sure to let her know the feeling is pretty much mutual.

The other boy, who must be from District One, stumbles towards me in a very non-District One manner. I'm used to them being very much like Shine, graceful and killer. He picks himself back up, blushing furiously.

"I'm Gray." he says quickly, looking me right in the eyes and staring as if he didn't just nearly fall. I nod, trying to shake off his gaze.

"Cool," I say, smiling as much I can muster. "I'm -"

"Oh, we know who you are." Shine interrupts, smirking. "You're the District Four girl who got herself reaped."

I have no response for that. With 3, 7, and 9, my getting reaped was a really good thing. Here, not so much. I open my mouth to respond, though I'm not sure what I was going to say, when I'm saved by one of the Capitol people, Atala, who's in charge of training, begins her speech.

This day's feeling long, and it's only just begun.

**Author's Note bit at the end :) : Remember that reviews are extremely helpful and very motivating ;) I'll see you next time! Well, i won't SEE you, I'll...forget it. You know what I mean.**


	12. Chapter 12: Mixed Messages

**Author's Note:** Hey everyone! Nice to see you again! I'm trying really hard to upload once a week, AT LEAST. I'm aiming for two to three, but it's hard to fit in. Remember to review, it really helps motivate me to write more of this.

**Chapter 12 - **

The tributes form a sort of circle as the head trainer, Atala, begins her speech. I nearly laugh as this happens, it looks as if we were one group, not every one for themselves. Circles are too inclusive for the Hunger Games.

"Hello, tributes of the 68th Hunger Games! We meet here today to begin your first day of training. You will all be training alongside one another for the next three days, not against one another. Experts are on hand at each station, so there is no need to engage in any combative exercise with any of your fellow tributes. There will plenty of time for _that _in the arena."

As she says this rule, I can see the difference between the Volunteers and the lower districts easily. The Volunteers smirk, looking around the circle greedily, as if the rest of the people here were a tasty meal instead of human beings. The others shiver away from their cold gazes.

I hate them, the Volunteers. I always have, sort of, but I thought at least that they, the Volunteers of my district would keep me safe. Tears nearly spring into my eyes at this thought. I'm not supposed to _be _here, I think, furiously. The cowards!

Atala begins to list of the various stations, survival and fighting skills alike. I try to think of what I might need to know. I'm already easily better than probably everyone here in swimming, and I've used knots, water plants, spears, and tridents since I started working on the _Samphire_ years ago. Those won't be a problem. I should really get to some survival stations, like fire building and shelter building and definitely that edible plants section. I only know the water plants, and they don't call it the Hunger Games for no reason.

_But, _a voice in the back of my mind reminds me. _The Careers. You're supposed to train with them._

I sigh. Finnick told me to get in the Careers good books, and I can probably only do that by acting like a Career, which means training in only weapons. I already know that stuff though! I mean, my knife skills could use a little brushing up, considering I've never used a knife in a fight or anything of the sort. Tridents and spears were what I train ever so slightly in gym class, and I have good aim with them, so that will give me a definite edge.

The group breaks up, and the Careers head directly for the weapons area. I sigh. I guess I should follow them, for now. But I really don't like them.

I catch up with them quickly, hoping I can still make a good impression, although the glare Shine sends my way says otherwise. I really don't know what she's got against me, anyway! The other Volunteers, fortunately, seem more undecided. I am from a Volunteer District, after all, they're probably thinking, I might be of some use to them.

As much as Finnick might get mad at me for it though, I'm not going to show them anything to do with spears and tridents. I'll save that for the private sessions, and plus, I really don't need to practice that, and that's what I'm here for isn't it? To practice?

We get to the weapons area, but the Volunteers don't, for some reason, start immediately whipping knives and machetes, and who knows what else around their heads as soon as they possibly can. They stop, turn around, and begin inspecting their competition, which turns out to be just another reason for me to hate them.

I watch quietly as they snicker and each of the tributes' around them mess up on their first lesson in fire building, or knot tying. One tribute, a girl, trips up a bit on the climbing wall, sending her falling in the mats below. Instinctively, I want to run to her and make sure she's alright, but I'm already doing so poorly with the Careers, I don't think there's any way they'd take me if I'd done that. My struggling against going to help the girl was however, covered by their laughs. I haven't heard someone laugh like that since the bullies that used to pick on Brooke at school. My eyes burn, but I stay quietly still, not wanting them to notice, though none of them have even looked at me since we got here.

I glance over again and think, _Correction: Most of them haven't noticed me._

Gray, the boy from One who tripped earlier, watches me quietly from the other side of the group. I catch his eye, confused, and raise my eyebrows at him. He immediately smiles back in a way I can only describe as trying to impersonate Finnick poorly. It is all I can do not to throw up.

_You're NOT serious. _I thought. _No way._

I'm saved from Gray's gaze when Demetri points out to us the boy from Six.

"Look at him." Demetri whispered to us, in shock.

The boy he was watching, Six, was battling one-on-one against the wrestling trainer. It was obvious he wasn't really trained, but he was vicious. As we watched, he bit, snarled, and kicked his way to victory in a matter of minutes. Six stood and roared, pumping his fists in the air above his defeated opponent.

"That was so…" Shine starts, surprised.

_Horrifying. _I offered silently. _Awful. Sickening. Hunger Games-ish._

_"_Amazing!" Gray finished from beside me. Yeah, not exactly the word I would have used.

"We should invite him to join us." says Cassius.

Whoa, hang on. He's not serious, is he?

"He'd never join." I say, quickly. "He seems like more of the lone wolf type. Tearing down anything that gets in his way. We'd better be careful."

_"We?" _Shine repeats, smirking. "_We'll _be just fine, Four. Not all of us came here untrained, you know."

That silences me. Why does she hate me so much? Because I was reaped? But how does she know I don't train?

Shines grins, evidently taking my silence as my defeat. "Right then." Shine goes into a plan to talk to Six, easily ignoring my quiet fury. I don't care what Finnick says right now, I'm leaving.

Just as I turn to leave, Shine calls "Leaving so soon, Four? What's the matter?"

I mumble something about doing survival stations and go on my way.

My group and the Careers don't stop giving me looks all day, but I decide to ignore them all, except to look up and snicker as Demetri nearly gets his head bitten off by Six when he goes to talk to him. I guess they won't be getting a new Career anytime soon.

I go back to the knot I'm trying to teach Jayden. It's a pretty tricky one, so I go slowly, showing each step repeatedly.

Going back to my group was a good idea, because I learned more from them than any combat station could teach me. Jayden taught us all the wiring we could possibly understand and had us rewiring explosives in no time. You never know what might happen in the arena, but electronics are a helpful skill. I went next, doing a quick swimming lesson in the pool in the corner of the room and some work with knots. I specifically avoided teaching them about spears and tridents, which they seemed to understand. I don't want to be any closer to the Careers than necessary. I focus on my knot.

_Over, around, through, up, twist. _I think. _down, around, through, and pull. Focus, Alexis. Focus._ I push the looks from the Careers, the looks exchanged between Willow and Ash away and focus on my know. Over. Around. Through. Up. Twist. Down. Around. Through. Pull.

After lunch, Willow and Ash take us to the climbing station. I do pretty well, since I've been climbing the _Samphire_'s mast since before I can even remember it. Though climbing trees is quite different, I get through pretty easily. I'm just reaching the top when I hear a scream and crash below me. I whip around to see that Heather has fallen to the ground, probably having lost her grip on the tree. She fell right on her back, knocking the air out of her and causing her to gasp uncontrollably. Capitol people rush over with medics to see that everything's alright.

Meanwhile, the Careers, having noticed Heather moments after me, are howling with laughter. My eyes water and my face burns with anger. I take a step towards them and yell, "Leave her alone, you twits! Like you've never messed up on something before!" I glare at each on of them individually as a gasp of shock fills nearly all of the other tributes' mouths. No one, and I mean _no one_ ever talked back to a Career, never mind all of them.

I'm not surprised by the angry but triumphant look in Shine's eyes. She must think that she now has yet another tool to use to keep me out of the Careers. But, I realize, as I glare at the rest of them, she's mistaken. The other Volunteers look surprised, but with something else. They're…_impressed. _Ha! I think. Good luck with that Shine.

My anger starts to fade, but it comes roaring back when my gaze meets with Cassius'. How could he do this to an innocent girl, laughing along with the rest of them. I give him my "deluxe-evil-stare" and turn back to Heather. She's sat up and staring at me in awe.

"You didn't have to do that." She whispers, shocked. The others are listening, I can tell, though they pretend not to.

I shook my head, smiling halfheartedly. "I did. They have no right to treat you like that."

Spencer pipes up then. "You'd better be careful, Alexis. They're going to want to _kill_ you in the arena." He thinks for a second, then says. "I mean, more so than before."

I remember the impressed looks the other Careers gave me at my outburst and smile. "We'll see about that."

**Author's note bit at the end! **Ooooh...an enemy, a friend, and a...well...whatever you'd call Gray among the Careers! dun dun DUN! And finally, the first training chapter with actual training in it! YAAAY! Let me know what you think of the story, the chapter, the characters, anything in a review! If you have an idea you want me to add to the story, I love a good challenge, so leave it there too! See you next time!

intheshatteredglass


	13. Chapter 13: Weak? I'll Show You All

I kept a quiet eye on the Careers for the last hour or so of our first day of training. It helped me easily figure out a few things about each of them. First off, the guys used swords, the girls used knives. Only Gray broke this pattern by favouring a spear, twirling it through his hands with ease. I frowned a little, he might be hard to beat, my spear skills seemed pretty level with his, though I haven't seen him throw yet. I better watch, that might be my advantage.

Miraculously, as I watched, Gray stepped up to the targets, standing about 25 feet away with a spear in his hand. I eyed the rack of javelins I spotted on the side of the target area; I could do some serious damage with those.

Gray tossed his spear awkwardly, holding it oddly in his fist. The tip dropped a little bit from his odd throw, but still managed to hit the bottom edge of the target, probably just because of the pure force he put behind it. He ran up to the target and pulled it out quickly before the other Careers could notice, which they didn't seem to, but I did. Weakness of a Career found: Check.

I go back to watching the other Careers. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Shine and Tiana hit bulls eyes with their throwing knives from a little further away from the targets than Gray was standing, maybe 30, 35 feet. I wonder if they can go further, but seeing as they are Careers, the Careers don't normally hold anything back in the training so they can intimidate the other tributes. I have a feeling I'm seeing close to their maximum distance.

Cassius and Demetri have put their swords away and begun to wrestle side by side with the instructors. I can tell that it's an unofficial race, it always is with the Careers. Sure enough, when Cassius stands up first, he first glances smugly over at Demetri, then, surprisingly, at me. He frowns when our eyes met, his gaze narrowing. I roll my eyes and look away. Cassius is probably still mad at me for well…a lot.

Just as I think this Atala's voice is projected around the Training Centre telling we're dismissed. This should be fun. Not.

I try to stay close to my allies as we walk to the elevators, but I still end up in the same elevator as Cassius. Shoot.

I can feel his angry gaze on me as we shoot upwards. I say bye to Jayden as casually as I can when we reach level 3, then jump off at 4. I'm about to walk towards my room when I feel a hand clamp hard onto my shoulder. I tense, then use the energy of them spinning me around to punch Cass hard in the face. He lets go, shocked, and stares at me.

"What was that for?" We both say at the same time.

I frown. "Sorry, okay? Just don't do that. How am I supposed to know it's you?"

Cassius' face mimics my frown. "Sorry. Now, what have you done?"

I look at him angrily. "I think I could ask you the same."

"What are you talking about?"

"Those are people you're laughing at with your group of demons. _Kids_, Cassius. Kids like us. I stood up for her. Her name's Heather. She doesn't deserve this more than anyone else. If she must die she doesn't need to be ridiculed along the way."

He's silent for a while. "And what about you then? You set the Volunteers against you with that little stunt. I suppose you've accepted death too then?" I'm startled by the sudden hurt in his voice, the tears in his eyes.

"You shouldn't be here." He whispered. "This should never have happened."

I know that if I stand here too much longer, I'll start crying too. "We'll figure this out, Cass. We can do this. We can make it out of here."

"How? This is the _Hunger Games_, Alexis. _The Hunger Games._ You don't just leave."

I give him a small smile. "C'mon, Cass. I'm not as dumb as I look. We'll figure something out. And we can survive until we figure it out. I promise."

I wince as I say "promise". I already have more than one promise in these Games. I promised Annie I'd save Cassius. I promised myself I'd help Jayden. And now I've promised Cassius we'll get out of here alive. I've got some thinking to do.

* * *

The next two days went by quickly. I stayed with my allies and we went through as much stations as we possibly could. Before we knew it, it was time to go for our last lunch in the training room.

We sat at the table we have come to claim as ours. I give one last look around the room. The only groups are the Volunteers and my group. Everyone else is scattered around the room, never giving more than a few nervous glances at each other.

At least we have that. My allies have become my friends over the last few days. At least if we don't leave the arena we had more fun in the Training Centre than tributes are supposed to have.

I look over at the Volunteers. I didn't bother trying to mend any sort of bond with them, yet. Finnick has been urging me to constantly. I know it will be bad to have them as enemies, but I don't think I could bear them as friends either.

_"Those are the allies you want, Alexis."_ Finnick's voice rings in my mind. _"The strong ones. The ones that you don't trust. It's best to keep the people you don't trust as close as you can for as long as you can."_

I sigh. I guess we'll see after lunch.

* * *

I think I owe Cassius for a lot now. We had maybe just over an hour and a half left of training when he marched over to the camouflage station where my allies were laughing and smearing paint and berry juice across each other's faces and arms.

He crouched down next to me in the mud. "Alexis Lace." That is already scary enough. He has never not used a nickname for me, never mind my full name. "If you don't join up with the Volunteers, they're going after you and only you first in the arena." My allies are eavesdropping by now, I can tell, even though they try to make it as casual as possible. "Shine has planted the idea that you're just some tribute. Not just worthless, but all talk because of the…incident with your friend over there. " He nods to Heather. "Weak. You can show them you're not. It's the only way you might stand a chance."

I was supposed to keep my trident and spears skills until the private sessions later, but they won't do me much good if the Volunteers just gang up on me anyway. I raise my chin a bit. I'll show them.

"You go over first." I tell Cassius. "I'll be there in a second."

I smear some red berry juice like war paint over my cheeks just to add some drama. To relax my allies, I reach over to each of them and do the same. "I'll be right back." I tell them."

I walk confidently over to the weapons section. I can feel the eyes of all the Careers, plus a few others, on me, but I don't look at anyone. I march straight over to the targets and pick up 2 spears and 3 tridents. Normally I could only fit two at the most in my hands, but these Capitol weapons are much thinner. I start at one end of the four targets and place one weapon at each target with one extra at the end, getting increasingly further away as I go. Then I turn back, face my setup and take a deep breath. I can hear Shine's snickers behind me, but they only motivate me now. I can do this. I run up to the first spear and toss it, making it hit the target hard.

Harder. I think. Throw harder.

The second spear lodges itself deep in the next target.

Further.

I sprint diagonally to my first trident, and roll right before I get there, picking it up as I do and throwing it before I'm even standing again. I don't stop to watch them hit the targets but I hear a solid thud that makes me smile.

Last one. I pick up both of the final two tridents at the end of the line. I turn and throw them at the final target. It snaps under the pure power of the throw and crashes to the ground of the silent and shocked Training Centre.

I stop, finally, and survey the damage. The Careers' mouths are hanging open, even Shine's. I smirk at her specifically and say, "Are we still up for an alliance?"

Tiana, next to her, barely manages a nod.

I give one final nod to Cassius, who smiles, and turn back to my shocked group. I know why.

Every weapon hit a perfect bullseye.


	14. Chapter 14: Private Sessions

**Chapter Fourteen - Private Sessions**

I'm in a sort of mental panic. I've finally allied myself with the Careers but I don't have anything left to show the Gamemakers. They're sure to be expecting something interesting after the show I just put on but I've got nothing.

_Calm down, Alexis._ The rational side of my mind says. _Think. What skills do you have?_

Hmm. I have obviously got spears and tridents; I've been using the things since before I can remember. And definitely swimming, I can swim better than anyone here, including Cassius, he never did spend too much time by the water.

There's water plants too, all the stuff I've fed myself with since I started working the _Samphire_, along with preparing meats and cooking them. And I can't forget knot tying, I have been making my own nets for years.

Since I've gotten here, I really excelled in fire and shelter building, as well as tree climbing. I didn't do too bad in the electronics Jayden showed us either, but my axe, sword, wrestling skills were a nightmare. My plant identification was okay, since I have some experience with it, but not something I would want to count on in the Hunger Games much. I just tried to remember some of the edible plants, a few poisons and just steered clear of the rest.

So all I have that the Gamemakers will really be interesting in is my spears and tridents. Unless…

* * *

Only seven people will go in for private sessions before me. Finnick tells me this is good, because I'm from a Volunteer District the Gamemakers will still be paying attention to me. Now I just need to give them something to pay attention to.

We, the tributes, are all sitting around the cafeteria of the Training Centre, waiting for our chance to impress the Gamemakers. I take a moment to pity the tributes from the lower districts, like Heather and Spencer. If what Finnick said is true, they won't get much attention at all.

Jayden stands up and walks over to me as Gray, the first tribute, walks in to the Training Centre. Six tributes to go.

"I'm nervous." Jayden says, sitting down next to me.

"Me too."

"Why should you be?" Jayden asks, surprised. "They saw you throw yesterday. They've probably already decided your score." Across the room, Shine stands and struts in to the Training Centre. Five to go.

I thought about that. I've never known the Gamemakers to decide on a score before the private sessions.

"They won't." I say. "They'll be bored, since they've already seen me throw. I'm going to have to make it more interesting. Somehow."

"What about me? What can I do?" Demetri walks in to the Training Centre. Four to go.

I smile at him. "Play to your strengths, avoid your weaknesses." He raises his eyebrows. "Build something." I clarify.

He frowns, thinking about it, then slowly his face breaks into a huge grin.

"I'm guessing you have an idea." I smirk, teasingly. Tiana leaves the room. Three to go. Jayden's next.

He beams at me. "I think I do. The Gamemakers won't know what hit them."

"Hit them? Wait…what?"

Jayden smiles mysteriously. "I guess you'll just have to wait and see."

The Capitol attendant walks back into the room. "District Three - Jayden Carter!"

I raises my eyebrows at him. I realize then that I'd never heard his last name.

He stands. "Wish me luck."

He starts to walk to the doors, then stops. I'm probably more shocked than anyone when he runs back to me and gives me a huge hug.

"Thank you, Alexis." he whispers. He's gone before I can even hug him back.

Cassius walks over to me then. "You're lucky all the Volunteers have left, Alex." he says. "They would have seen that as betrayal."

"Well, good for me then."

He frowns. "You're planning on leaving them, aren't you?"

"The Volunteers? Yes, of course, eventually. And if any of them lay a finger on any of my friends I will spear them so many times they wouldn't recognize themselves."

"Your allies." Cassius corrects. "They're your allies, not friends." Pascale, the girl from Three gets called in.

"No." I frown. "Friends."

He leans in closer to me and whispers in my ear. "Still working on getting us out of here, aren't you?"

I nod. This is dangerous, we shouldn't be talking about this here. Not following the rules of the Hunger Games, (aka dying) is definitely considered illegal. Rebellious. We could be shot instantly for just talking about it.

"Be careful, Alexis." He pulls back. "Okay?" I nod again. We could have been talking about anything now.

"Cassius Achille!" The Capitol attendant calls.

"That's me." Cass says, as if I didn't know. "I'll see you later."

He stands up straight and marches straight in to the Training Centre.

Willow and Ash slide in to the seats next to me. "Got a plan?" She asks.

I gulp. I'm next. There's no more tributes to be called before me. I put on a brave-ish sort of smile.

"I'm sure I'll come up with something when I get there."

Willow raises her eyebrows, but doesn't push it. She's probably just as scared as I am. Then, for the second time today, she pulls me close to her and whispers in my ear.

"Listen. We might not have time to talk after now, so we need to say it now."

"What?" I ask, laughing a little so the other tributes are suspicious that we could be talking about anything important.

"I think you should do the Games with the Careers."

I start to protest, but Willow's voice cuts me off. I look at Ash for help, but he just nods encouragingly. They must have talked about this before.

"The Careers will probably track you down first if you don't." Willow continues. "And if your training score is as I think it's going to be, then they definitely will. Plus, it would be good for us to have someone among the Careers we can trust. Act like you broke off the alliance with us, but come find us after the Careers split."

I think about it for a bit, then say, "And where will you be?" I hope that doesn't sound too suspicious.

"By the water, in the trees. If there's water, we'll be there."

She pauses for a moment, then says, "We'll leave you a sign."

"How will I know?" I ask.

Just then, the Capitol attendant comes back out. I don't hear her words, but I know what they are. My name.

Willow pulls back. "You will. Just remember…just remember us. Remember us and you will find it."

I don't know what she means by that, but it's not for me to figure out now. For now, I need to figure out how to impress some Gamemakers.

"Good luck." Ash says.

"And may the odds be ever in your favour." Willow whispers, smiling a bit. I chuckle a bit, then march through the doors.

* * *

The place is a mess. The targets have been attacked by points, probably Shine and Tiana, and the dummies are in shreds, probably the doing of the Volunteers boys.

_My new allies._ I remind myself.

The oddest, however, is the mat pulled in to the centre of the room. The Gamemakers, who I can tell, now I'm looking for it, all seem a bit shocked, as if something happened that they didn't know was possible.

The last clue to hit me is the smell. The smell of burning. I realize there are marks around the mat that match the ones on the Gamemakers' table, clothes, and now that I look at it, the whole room.

I finally realize what Jayden did. A bomb.

I've registered all of this within seconds of walking into the room, so nothing seems to odd about it. I walk up to the front, bow and say, "Alexis Lace, District Four." A man sitting in the front of the group, the Head Gamemaker, I assume, nods, signalling for me to begin.

* * *

It takes me only about three spears to realize how boring this must be, watching a girl throw spears at a target. No matter how far away you are, it's only impressive for so long. I need more, but that's all I can really do.

_Think Alexis, think. If throwing is the skill you want to show, then the only thing you can change is the target._

I stand up straight, like one of those cartoons I saw on the train when they get a bright idea. I feel like I could reach up and grab the lightbulb from above my head.

It doesn't take long to find a few interesting materials and toss them randomly around the room. Pieces of wood from fire building. Maple leaves from plant identification. Lifejackets from the pool. A couple dummies. The Gamemakers are looking at me like I'm crazy, but I'm pretty sure they'll get it in just a second. Finally, I turn to face them and directly address the Head Gamemaker, something I'm not completely sure you're allowed to do based on the surprised look he gives me.

"Sir, could you please name one of the items I've just placed around the room for me?"

It takes him a while to get over his confusion and just answer me, but when he finally does, he says, "Maple leaves."

I nod, then, hoping this is still somewhere within my skill level, run to the tree I picked out in the middle of the room in the tree climbing station. I climb as high as I can with spears in my hands, then secure myself to the tree. It takes me exactly fifteen seconds to hit each maple leaf with a spear. I climb down and show them the punctured leaves on the end of the closest spear. The shocked but impressed faces are very encouraging. I ask the woman next the Head for another item.

She watches me for a second, then smiles, a little evilly, and says, "The sprinklers."

I look up. It's a tall ceiling, maybe three meters, but nothing too difficult. I eyes catch on one of the pieces of wood from fire building and I get an idea.

It takes me too long to make a fire, I must be running out of time. The others before me didn't take nearly this long, but the Gamemakers have said nothing so far.

The fire finally takes hold and I quickly grab a few of the longer sticks around me and dip the ends of them in propane, then into the flames. This will be my final trick.

I toss several burning sticks up into the rafters, immediately setting off the sprinklers above my head. My fire is put out quick, after all, that's what they're for, but I think I've made my point. I bow politely to the Gamemakers and walk out of the room.

Once outside, I release the huge breath I didn't realize I was holding in and grin from ear to ear as I dash for the elevator. I doubt anyone will be beating that any time soon, but now it's up to the Gamemakers to decide.


	15. Chapter 15: Scores

A short chapter for the scores!

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen - Scores**

By the time I get to the fourth floor, my confidence has faded. Sure, I did my throwing well, but was it enough? Even when I picked interesting targets, it was still the same old thing.

I walk straight into my room, thankfully running into no one along the way and decide I'm going to eat dinner in here, I don't want to see everyone else until the training scores.

Dinner was excellent. Not only was it fun to yell at Zéle to go away through the door, the food I ordered was excellent. Finnick came in after dinner had finished outside and asked how my session went. We talked for a while about strategy and other useless things until it was time to go down to the TV room for scores.

We walked in quietly and I sat on the couch between Cass and Finnick. Suddenly, Nereida shrieks at the sight of Caesar Flickerman appearing on screen, looking like he was bleeding to death.

Once I get over my shock, I begin to laugh. Caesar picks a new colour to wear every year for the Hunger Games. And he picked crimson.

"Hello everyone and Happy Hunger Games! Today we are treated with the excitement of our newest tributes' training scores! Let's see what the competition will be like this year!"

Caesar's voice fades away and is replaced on screen by the photo of Gray on screen. And the number seven.

"Seven? That's pretty low for a Volunteer." Cassius whispers. "I wonder what happened. Oh man, Shine's going to kill him before we even get in the arena."

I find the thought amusing.

The rest of the scores go by quick enough. Shine pulls an eight, while Demetri and Tiana both get nines. Pascale, the girl from Three, gets a eight, but Jayden shocks everyone by pulling an eight. Everyone around us gasps, but I just give a small smile in response to Cassius' bewilderment. The room goes silent as Cassius' face appears on the screen, and we all starting cheering when it is shortly followed by the number ten.

Nereida, Cassius' mentor, gives him a huge high five as the room silences again at the appearance of my face on the screen. I almost wince at how odd I look, my strange multicoloured gaze is hard for even me to look back at, but there's no need to when another ten appears next to my face, just like Cassius'. We grin at each other and before I'm even aware of what's happening, everyone in the room has wrapped us in a giant bear hug. I laugh and smile until everyone settles down to see the rest of the scores.

Few after ours really stand out, the usual low, until we get to the male from Six, who pulls a ten identical to Cass and my scores. Our room goes silent, but I'm not surprised. I saw that kid train.

District Seven is next and Willow and Ash do pretty nicely with a seven and a six respectively, but Heather and Spencer sadly only pull a three and a five. Poor Heather, I knew she wasn't very strong. All the more reason to stand up for her.

Since Cass and I are among the top scoring tributes, and the top district this year, there's is much celebration for me to escape before finally getting back to the safety of my room, falling asleep almost before my head hits the pillow and with my training clothes, all torn and smelling of smoke. I think it's Finnick that comes in later and pulls my covers around me. He whispers something in my ear, but I'm too far gone to hear it. Then the light from the open door shuts and I'm left alone. For a little while.

* * *

TRAINING SCORES OF THE TRIBUTES OF THE 68TH HUNGER GAMES

Gray D1 - 7

Shine D1 - 8

Demetri D2 - 9

Tiana D2 - 9

Jayden D3 - 8

Pascale D3 - 4

Cassius D4 - 10

Alexis D4 - 10

D5 Boy - 3

D5 Girl - 3

D6 Boy - 10

D6 Girl - 5

Ash D7 - 6

Willow D7 - 7

D8 Boy - 2

D8 Girl - 3

Spencer D9 - 5

Heather D9 - 3

D10 Boy - 3

D10 Girl - 4

D11 Boy - 6

D11 Girl - 6

D12 Boy - 3

D12 Girl - 2

* * *

Oooooh...were you shocked by any of the scores? Confused? Angry? Pleased? Let me know, it helps me write this story :)

Only people in Alexis' alliances were named in this list, but the others do have names. Why? Well, that might ruin some of the surprises I have in store… :) Also, she's allied with half the group! I just realized that...well, maybe more or less than half the group once we get to the arena...which I'm hoping will be in 3ish chapters...yes, that sounds about right. 2 to 3 chapters until the awesome arena I have planned!


	16. Chapter 16: In Preparation

**Sorry for yet another short chapter. It seemed odd to squish the interview prep and the interview itself into one chapter for some reason, so I decided to just post this for now and keep working at the interviews. Two short chapters in one day makes for a whole one, right? :)**

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen - In Preparation**

"Get up, Alexis!" A yell comes from the other side of my bedroom door. "We've got work to do."

A beam of light bursts into the room as Zéle cracks open the door. I groan and roll over, facing the wall.

"Alexis! We've got to start working on your interview, you're with me first, and trust me, we have a lot to cover." Zéle says, marching over and shaking my shoulder.

"Go 'way." I mumble.

"Come on!" he snaps, whipping back my covers. I reply to this in what I believe to be a quite fair way by smacking him over the head with my pillow.

"Ow." he groans.

"You earned it." I reply, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "Fine, get out and I'll be up in 15 minutes."

Zéle leaves the room uncertainly, closing the door behind him and enveloping my room in a blissful darkness.

And I fall back asleep.

* * *

Turns out Zéle wasn't lying about having a lot of work to do. We have four hours together while Cassius works with his mentor, Nereida, and Finnick and then we switch. Zéle gets me in awful dresses that I'm shocked they didn't have to cut open to get me out of and high heels so tall and thin they look more like a waterside than a shoe. I'm also forced to wear books on my head for hours like we didn't have enough shelves, which was just torture. And apparently, even after years upon years of practice, all my life, I have never, according to Zéle, learned how to sit or walk properly. And what, to him, is the "right way" is absolute hell.

So, after four hours of torture, I finally change back into clothes that aren't trying to strangle me and have an excellent lunch before the next part of my day, content work.

For the first, maybe half hour, nothing happens. Nereida, Cass' mentor, a tall and muscular woman with a kind face, and Finnick just stare at me, every once in a while tilting their heads to one side or another as if to get a better view.

Finally, I can't take it. "Something wrong?" I ask in a way that seems innocent enough but gets the point across that this needs to stop. I'm not a very self-conscious person, but I never liked people staring at me, which happened enough, thanks to my fantastically alien-looking peacock eyes.

Finnick shakes his head. "We're just trying to figure out your angle."

"My angle? Well, I wouldn't know, but apparently my face looks better like this." I tilt my head sideways in the way I've been watching my mentors do for the past half hour. They laugh.

"No, sweetie." Nereida smiles. "Your angle for the interview."

"Like, what are you going to be? What's going to make you stand out? Are you funny, smart, sexy, innocent, kind?" Finnick explains.

"I'd say we're looking at a few different ones. From what we've seen, you can be funny, kind, and definitely sarcastic." Nereida says. "We can definitely work with that. But from the audience's point of view, we've seen that you're definitely strong, from your training score. You're loyal, and also very brave, from the way that you defended with your ally." Nereida gives me a look I don't understand. It's funny, I hadn't thought that my little spat with the Careers would have aired, but then of course it would have. The Gamemakers always love a little drama, and I've given them quite a bit.

We try several different angles for a while. I cracked up too much to even try to be mysterious. I wasn't sweet enough to be kind. And sexy? Forget it.

"I think we should try mysterious again." Finnick says suddenly. Nereida and I just look at him. "Not in the "only-answers-in-yes-and-no" but like, she'll say lots about anything, seeming relaxed and out there, but will sometimes quickly pull back, withhold information. Not hide information, withhold it."

"Might as well try it." Nereida shrugs.

They keep asking me questions they think might come up in an interview. Stuff about my life back home, my training score. But this one seems easier for me. I just say what I want, but when something that might help me in the Games comes up, like my skills with spears, I pull back, acting coy and smirking.

"Perfect!" Nereida cries, when I again give a small smirk to what would be our audience. "Done!" She reaches over to each of us and gives me and Finnick both a huge high five. "You're going to be fabulous, Alexis. Now, let's see what's for dinner."


	17. Chapter 17: Questioning

**Hiya everyone! A nice long chapter today :) I'm kind of hoping this will help make up for the fact that I can't really upload this week, after today, seeing as I will be without the wonder that is wifi, and also without much free time. So, we have this chapter then one more that will hopefully be uploaded tomorrow and if not next week and then we're in the Games!**

**Thanks for reading!**

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen - Questioning**

"Last one, okay, Alexis? Ready?…Okay, you can open your eyes now." Emeline, my energetic stylist finally gives one last tug on whatever is it I'm wearing and steps back to admire her work.

I open my eyes and gasp at what I see in the mirror. The girl that stand before me is beautiful, in her own way, but dangerous. She wears a floor-length dress that goes from green around her chest and then fades to an aqua by the bottom. The neck of the dress scoops down a bit, and the dress itself seems intent in showing off whatever curves it can find on the girl's body. Best of all, when she moves, the dress shimmers and shines like the ocean back home.

The girl's expression seems calm and relaxed, but with something underneath that, like she's masking some hidden ferocity that's just waiting to jump out. Most of all, her eyes are mesmerizing, almost seeming to change colour kaleidoscope style with her dress, showing off the blues, browns, greens, purples, and flakes of light blue like sparkles on ice.

Emeline helps into a pair of heels that are definitely 5 inches at the very least, but the shoes are much wider and, dare I say it, comfier than the torturous devices Zéle had me wearing yesterday. I slip them on, wobbling a bit, but I've almost figured out the walk now, you just have to act like you're on tiptoes, which you basically are, all the time.

I look over at my usually over-the-top energetic stylist, whose now silent in deep concentration. "Emeline, this-" I begin.

"Oh! How could I forget! You can't go showing the world who you are without this!" She rummages through her pockets, then pulls out a piece of braided string. It's plain, like the stuff we have back home, nothing fancy. I racked my memory trying to remember why this necklace seems familiar until the voice of an old friend plays in my head, something that seems to have happened so long ago.

_"Please, take this as your token. I found it in one of the oysters we collected. Here," Annie explains, pulling out her necklace, which I hadn't noticed she was wearing. It's a long, plain braided piece of string. She tears it off her neck and helps me string the pearl and tie the necklace around my neck. "There." She gives me a hug and whispers, "Good luck, Alexis."_

Annie. The shining pearl pendant I see in the mirror proves it. I can't believe I had forgotten my token, and I don't even remember where.

My voice comes out, a little strangled. "Where...where did you find this?"

Emeline shrugs. "Finnick gave it to me for you. I guess he must have found it somewhere."

"Thank you." I whisper. "This is perfect."

Emeline grins. "Awww...you look lovely, my dear! Now get out there and show them what you're made of!"

* * *

For training the boys went first. For interviews, it's the girls, meaning i only have six tributes ahead of me. We, the tributes, sit in a semi circle around the stage where Caesar Flickerman is firing up the crowd for us. Finnick told me he's amazing at making just about anyone seem great, which, I have I feeling, is a skill I will need him to exercise.

Caesar looks terrifying this year, his colour a deep red making him look like he was slowly bleeding to death, but, from the way he acted, it was the best thing in the world. I think I heard Emeline call it crimson.

The crowd behind me cheers as Shine slides up onto the stage, looking dazzling in her low cut sliver dress. Her blond hair flows back from her face and her light blue eyes, well, _shine_ in the spotlight. Her stylist was obviously inspired by her name when designing the dress because it has enough sparkles to blind us. Maybe that's the idea.

Caesar and Shine chat for a while and it's easy to see the angle chosen for her; sexy, naturally. That's what most District One tributes angle is.

The buzzer goes and Shine is soon replaced by her district partner. Gray is wearing a suit that matches his name, but his personality seems much darker than his clothes. I guess his mentor wanted him to make up for the low score he got, being from District One and try to be tough and mean in his personality. It's actually quite terrifying which I guess is what he's going for.

"So, Gray, do you think you're ready for the arena?" Caesar asks.

"Am I ready?" Gray repeats, chuckling darkly. "You have no idea. I been waiting for this chance my whole life. When we get in there I won't hesitate for a second to begin the path to my victory."

"Oh, really?" Caesar says, with an over-the-top impressed voice, then address the audience, "He's a fighter, folks!" and they cheer back excitedly. "Any other tributes you're nervous about facing then?"

Gray laughs again, sending a shiver down my spine and probably that of many other tributes. "As if! A training score doesn't matter if you're not showing your full potential." He looks knowingly at the audience. It's a good cover for his score, but I'm not buying it. He's a Career after all, they don't hold back.

The audience, however, apparently does not share my opinion on this. Gray is about to go off to a huge round of applause but Caesar has one last question for him.

"So Gray, last thing. Good looking guy like you must have a special lady. Care to tell us?"

Gray's gaze softens just a bit. "Well, not back home." he says, slowly. "She's here, competing against me."

The crowd gives a gasp. For some odd reason, I can see Shine, out of the corner of my eye, glaring at me. What in the world did I do now?

"Who?" Caesar pressures.

"Oh, I can't say. But I'll give you a clue; she's has the most beautiful eyes you could ever see."

The crowd gives a collective "Awwwwwwwwwww!", but I know there was more to the comment. Hidden behind the simple compliment was the awkwardness that surrounded Gray around me, and the reasoning for Shine's anger. She must like him, but he doesn't like her. How could he possibly...?

I sigh, and push the thoughts out of my mind, specifically ignoring Cassius' shocked stare beside me. I need to focus on my own interview, not his. That's what this is, he's throwing me off. I outscored him and now he needs to out do me too.

But still...

"Shut up, me." I mutter under my breath.

"What was that?" Cassius' asks from beside me.

"Nothing." I say quickly, looking away, only to catch Jayden's smirk.

"What lovely eyes you have." He teases. I punch him lightly on the arm. He must have figured it out too.

"Yes," I whisper, "like a Capitolite with plenty of surgery. My escort told me."

On the stage above us, Tiana has taken the seat next to Caesar. Four to go.

Jayden's still cracking up, so I leave him be. The boy apparently doesn't get much time to laugh back home.

I look back to Cassius. "What's your angle?"

He glances over at me and makes a face. "Brave."

"Oooh..." I say, pinching his cheek, causing him to nearly slap my hand away. "Like a noble knight from the stories we read at school."

"The myths you mean."

"No, but I guess those too. It's amazing that all those legends have lasted so long you know? The...err...what do you call ems?"

"Greeks and Romans." Cassius supplies without a second thought.

"Yes, smarty pants. Those guys. Heroes and gods. You'll be just like that, won't you?"

"Oh yes, when I grow up, I want to be a myth!" he says, smirking.

"And I want to be a fairy princess. Sometimes wishes just don't come true." I say, bringing us back to reality.

Demetri has entered the stage. Three to go.

"No, and that's why we're here." Cassius whispers back.

"Wasn't it your wish to be here? You volunteered, after all." I needed to ask this question, but I try to say it as innocently and kindly as I can, as to not anger one of my only true friends in these Games.

Cass sighs. "I guess it is. Or was. I don't know anymore. But I never wanted to be here with you."

I stay silent as Pascale, Jayden's district partner takes the stage. Two to go.

"What are we going to do if it comes down to the two of us, Alex?" Cassius asks.

I sigh. I have asked myself this question already, and repeated it with each Jayden, Willow, Ash, Heather, and Spencer. Six friends out of twenty-four tributes. I don't like those odds. But I have an answer.

"I guess they're going to have to send a mutt after us, because there's no way you would die otherwise."

"Same to you."

I reach over and grab Cassius' hand in a silent agreement. A promise. I won't harm the person next to me in any way, no matter the costs. I go to reach for Jayden's hand, but all that's beside me is an empty chair. I look up to see Jayden chatting happily with Caesar and a knot forms in my stomach. I'm next.

Cass squeezes my hand, bringing back from the panic I was about to have. "Hey. You're going to do just great. The audience already loves you. Just keep them interested."

_Keep them interested._ I think. _Be mysterious. Seem relax and calm, but then suddenly reel them back in, always keeping them on the edges of their seats. Make them want to know more._

I take a deep breath, then exhale slowly. Okay. I can do this. I rub the pearl on my necklace, the one thing I still have of home; a pearl from the oceans of my District. I can do this.

A beep goes off to signal the end of Jayden's interview and the beginning of mine. I walk up to the stage, careful not to trip in my crazy shoes. That's the last thing that needs to happen right now. I get to the top of the stairs and give a small, sly wave at the audience which sends them into a craze. I smirk even more; it's too easy to manipulate these Capitol folk.

I take my seat next to Caesar and lean forward on my hand, a confident expression on my face. I'm so ready for this.

"Hey Caesar!" I say, startling him by starting the interview instead of the other way around. "I love this year's colour, how did you pick it?"

Caesar recovers quickly, giving me a confused smile and wagging his finger in front of my face. "I think I'm going to be the one asking the questions here, . After all, we all want to know about you, isn't that right, folks?" The crowd screams in response. "I'm sorry, what was that?" The noise that follows is deafening, but I just laugh and lean back in my chair. "Can you believe it?" He says to the audience. "This one's going to steal my job!" He looks horrified, and the audience laughs in reply. Perfect.

Caesar looks back at me. "My goodness, don't you look like one of the Capitol! Just look at those lovely eyes, ladies and gentleman!" The crowd screams and cheers, and I try to hide the fact that the compliment makes me want to throw up. It is a "compliment" after all, and it's something I can use to my advantage.

"Aw, thanks Caesar!" I flash the audience a giant grin.

"Now, Alexis, we all know you're going to be one to watch out for in the arena, a ten in training and among the top three scorers along with your dashing district partner! How did you climb your way to the top? Any secrets?"

I pretend to pull back a bit, giving him a raised eyebrow. "Secrets? Well, don't we all have some of those?"

"Oooh, anything you can tell us?" Caesar asks, leaning for effect.

I smirk. "Well, Caesar, it isn't called a secret for no reason! I guess you'll find out in the arena."

The crowd voices its disappointment in another loud "awwwww...", but I just smile slyly back.

"Well," Caesar says, "can you tell us anything about your life back home then?"

I pretend to lighten up a lot and I can tell the audience buys it. "Well," I start. I don't really want to tell the entire world about my family, but I'm going to have to. They'd understand, and I'd be nice to for them to know that I'm still me, still remembering them. "I have the best family and friends that a girl could ever ask for. There's my mom and dad who used to come fishing with me all the time, but now it's just my dad."

"How come?" Caesar asks.

"Well, my mom had an awful accident with a shark when I was much younger and she lost her arm." The audience gives another "awwww…" as if they care at all about my mom. Since fishing is mostly using your hands, she can't come anymore. And me, well, I'm here, aren't I?" I smile.

"What about your friends?"

"Oh, my friends are hilarious. There's Brooke, my best friend since, well, forever really. We've always been super close, ever since I can remember. She's super hyper, and always has too much to say so she's tries to say it all at once! It gets really hard to understand sometimes." The crowd laughs. "And then there's Annie, who's the most sweet girl you could ever meet. She's thirteen, two years younger than me and Brooke, but we still hang out together all the time. I can't wait to see them all when I get back home. Oh, and there's Cassius too, of course."

"Yes, I heard that you and Mr. Achille knew each other before the Games. Are you guys friends? Something more?"

I laugh hysterically for a little while before I'm able to calm down. "Oh no no no." I giggle. "Cassius is the cousin of my friend Annie, so we've known each other for a while. You can be sure we'll stick together, but he's like my brother, Caesar. That would be weird."

Caesar raises his eyebrows dramatically. "Sure…" he winks at me. "Whatever you say. Are you believing this?" He asks the audience, who roars in response. I try to interjects some "C'mon!"s and "You can't be serious"es, but they're mostly lost in the noise.

Caesar finally raises his hands in defeat. "Fine, Alexis. But if you and Cassius aren't together, you must have someone special back home. Lovely eyes like those, well, we know they haven't been missed by the boys _here._" I gasp a little, knowing who he means, and giving him by best "back off" look I can.

I shrink back a bit and smirk at the crowd, who's hanging onto every word. "Well, I don't know." I stage whisper. "I guess I just haven't found the right guy." The crowd is silent and stares at me with a weird expression I can't place.

"Well, who knows?" Caesar says. "Maybe he's here tonight, huh?"

I give another sly grin at the audience and wink. "Maybe so, Flicks. Maybe so."

"'_Flicks'?" _Caesar fakes anger at my nickname, but right then the bell goes off. Caesar stands, taking my hand and yells, "Ladies and gentleman, Alexis Lace, tribute of District Four!"

The noise is positively deafening, but I manage a final smirk and a small curtsy before walking back to my seat. I'm going to take the fact that they are trying to rob me of my hearing as a good sign. I pass Cassius on my way down and give his hand a small but encouraging squeeze before he continues up the stairs.

"Good job." Cassius whispers.

"Good luck." I reply.

The crowd finally calms down enough to listen to Cassius and Caesar talking, but I haven't yet.

_Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. _I think to myself. _You did it, good job. It's over._

Jayden nudges my shoulder. "Not bad, Ms._Lace_." He says, stressing my last name.

"You too, Mr._Carter._" I reply. "Hey, did Willow tell you the new plan?"

He sighs. "The one where you have to join the Careers? Yeah, yeah she did. I don't like it, Alexis, but I guess I will have to deal with it."

"Thanks."

I turn back to Cass' interview, where the crowd is just fawning over his "nobleness" and "bravery", but I can tell he just wants to get out of there. Unfortunately for him, Caesar has one last question. Me.

"So," Caesar starts. "Last thing. We've heard Ms. Alexis Lace's side of the story, but is there really nothing between you too. Nothing at all?"

I hold my breath. _Please, don't make up some love story. PLEASE, don't make up some love story. _

Thankfully, Cassius just laughs. "Caesar, Alex was right. I will stick with her through this, but with her being my sister, not my girlfriend."

I let out a huge breath and sigh with relief as Cass' interview comes to an end.

"Thank you." I whisper to him, as he takes his seat. "For not making us some tragic love story."

"We are, though, Alex." I raise my eyebrows at him, wondering what he said when I wasn't listening. "Family love is a thing too." I relax, and smile back at him, knowing he's right. I don't know how will ever get out of this, but for now, I'm glad he's here.

* * *

did you think the little chat between cass and alex about greek myths was random? BECAUSE IT WASN'T! Maybe this will give you something interesting to think about, but I didn't randomly choose their names either, and their origins and meaning might give you a hint about what's to come!

Alexis Lace - greek first name, irish last name

Cassius Achille - ancient roman first name, french last name, but both based off of greek myths.


	18. Chapter 18: A Glimpse of Home

**Originally, I was only going to use the perspective of Alexis in this story, but then, I thought why not give a little glimpse of home? And a little bit from Caesar and the Head Gamemaker.**

**Also, I added a temporary cover for the story. It's a little bit more green than Alexis' eye would be, but it should give you a pretty good idea.**

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen - Gamemakers and A Glimpse of Home**

"Mr. Karan, we are so glad to have you here!" Caesar says, as he welcomes his newest interviewee to a new crowd. His newest interviewee being of course, not another tribute, but the Head Gamemaker himself, Sebastien Karan.

Sebastien nods. "My pleasure, Caesar."

"So, with the Games starting tomorrow and the tributes already introduced, the crowd has but a few important questions. First off all, we're all wondering about what you think of this year's batch of tributes. Any of them stand out to you?"

Sebastien gives a laugh and a shake of the head. "Oh, Caesar, you know I can't tell you that. That's for you all to decide! In fact, I have a feeling I can't answer a good number of the questions you'd like to ask me."

"Okay, fine. Now, I know you can't tell us what the arena will be like, but can we get any hints?"

The Gamemaker frowns, as if trying to come up with a nicer way to say "no", but then hints. "I can't tell you much, but I will say that your audience should be very excited about the _cool_ arena we have planned this year."

Caesar sighs, evidently disappointed. "Well thanks for joining us. Since we can't get any information out of you, we should probably let you get back to work. Sebastien Karan, everybody!"

* * *

**Annie:**

I curl up in my chair, helpless. It's been almost a week since Alexis and Cassius went off to the Capitol to fight for their lives, and all I can do is sit here. I'm worried sick about the both of them, but they still seem to be staying strong, like the Alexis and Cassius I knew back home. I don't have to worry too much about them until tomorrow. It's aunt and uncle I'm worried about now. They've been worse than me this past week. As much as I'm scared by what they might do, I'm worried that I did the wrong thing asking for Alexis to help. How could she possibly keep a promise like that? Worst of all, I'm worried she might.

It's all because of the necklace she wore in the interviews. My necklace. Brooke keeps telling me it's nothing, but I'm sure she wore for me. So that I knew that she was keeping her promise. That she hadn't forgotten us.

And it makes me sick. I mean, what kind of friend's last words to another friend before she goes to get slaughtered are 'help my cousin get out there, not you'?

"You know, sitting here and worrying won't do either of them any good, Annie."

Brooke stands above my chair, frowning. She's changed the last few days, all of us have. She doesn't talk as much, she's less energetic. Less Brooke. I don't like it.

I sit up, sighing. "What do you suggest?"

"What do you think, silly? We need to sponsor them! We go out into Town Square and get people to support District Four's tributes!"

I stay there, thinking about it, then, for the first time in a while, I stand up, with Brooke and walk out the door. It's time to do some good.

* * *

**Brooke: **

I finally got Annie out that chair, which was awesome, but we're not having much luck in Town Square. See, if this was the Capitol, we'd have our pockets full of money, but here, in the Districts, even if people want to help there isn't much they have to give.

After an hour or so, we've gotten a whole 5 dollars. "Well, it's five dollars more than we had an hour ago." I say halfheartedly.

Soon after, however, it isn't more money we have, but more people. People from all over the place, joining us to help support our friends. Even if these people have nothing left to give, they still do. They give their time. What was just two girls yelling a couple hours ago is now a huge crowd. People of all ages have come to stand with us, and I know maybe a quarter of them. It's heartening to see, truly, but we still haven't raised much at all. Maybe we could buy Alexis a slice of bread, or a bit of string. Still, it's amazing to see our district come to life in support of some of their own.

* * *

**Annie:**

That's when it hits me. What we need to do. With this big a crowd it will be impossible for them to say no. Brooke's parents. We need to go to Victor's Village.

"Hey! Brooke! HEY!" I yell, pushing my way through the crowd we've created. "Brooke!"

"Right here." Says a voice at my side. "What's going on?"

I whisper my idea to her. She pales immediately, but then thinks it through.

"I really hate it, you know that, but it might just do the trick. HEY EVERYBODY!"

Once the crowd finally quiets down, we explain our plan to them. I hear whispers going through the group and I'm nervous, thinking they might not agree, when I hear a familiar voice at the back of the crowd yell, "Let's do it!" and everyone cheers, running for the Victor's Village entrance as I try to catch a glimpse of who it was that yelled. It was a man's voice, so familiar, and yet…

The crowd files into the Village and I finally see who was left, who it was that yelled, and my smile brightens a thousand times. Uncle Joseph. Cassius' dad.

* * *

**Brooke:**

We've reached the doorstep of my house by now and I'm shaking from head to toe. My parents are big into the Games, and, consequently, not me, seeing as I'm not. But this is Games-related, so hopefully they'll agree...

* * *

**A glimpse of what's going on back home before we enter the Games…just out of curiosity, who's your favourite tribute besides Alexis? Who knows, maybe if they're well liked they might do better…just saying :D Anyway, I'll see you next week! **

**Just to give you something to think about, here's a bit of a clue about the what's to come!**

**_Chills and Plans Gone Wrong (Which should also be the name of the first chapter of the arena, which should be in either one or two chapters.)_**

**Thanks for reading!**

**intheshatteredglass**


	19. Chapter 19: Chills and Plans Gone Wrong

**A nice long chapter for the first chapter of the Games! I hope you're as excited about this arena as I am! Thanks for sticking around long enough to get to this chapter! I hope you like it :)**

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen - Chills and Plans Gone Wrong/Let the Games Begin**

I lie awake in bed as the sun rises over the horizon. _So, this is it._ I think. _The last real sunrise I might ever see._

I'm up at dawn, as I always have been up until last week, when I was brought here to be slaughtered. Sunrises are important in District Four, more so than sunsets, which are just pretty. No, sunrise has always been pretty and useful, the start of the day, the time to start fishing.

If only I was back home, about to board the _Samphire,_ maybe with my dad or Brooke or even Annie. But no, I'm here, in the beautiful and horrible Capitol, and they're home, as safe as you can be in Panem, back in District Four. At least, I hope they're safe.

I sigh. I can't think about that now. Right now, I need to focus on the Games, my next and maybe last challenge.

I try to remember all of the promises I've made, since this is probably the last time I'll really have a chance to think things through.

I promised Cassius we would get out of here, somehow, and also that I wouldn't kill him, even if we were the final two. I have a feeling that that second one will definitely be easier to keep than the first. Annie, I told her I would help Cassius get home. I hope she and Brooke are doing okay back in District Four, but now's not the time to worry about it.

So basically, I can't hurt Cass. Not that I would, of course, but that's what all that adds up to. And I can't forget my promises to myself, that I wouldn't hurt Willow, Ash, Spencer, Heather, or Jayden. That I wouldn't turn into a monster, but that I will put people out of their misery. That last one will be difficult, I don't want to kill anyone, but if they're already suffering it's actually the kinder, or rather, kindest thing to do.

At the thought of Willow and Ash, I remember our last conversation, that I would join the Careers in the arena and meet up with them later. I swallow with some difficulty. I will be tough to get away from the Careers. And what if I can't find them? Or worse, what if I meet up with them while I'm still supposed to be with the Careers?

Suddenly, I remember the answer in the form of a memory. Our last conversation together echoes in my head.

_I think about it for a bit, then say, "And where will you be?"_

_"By the water, in the trees. If there's water, we'll be there."_

_She pauses for a moment, then says, "We'll leave you a sign."_

_"How will I know?" I ask._

_"You will. Just remember…just remember us. Remember us and you will find it."_

Perfect. So, I just need to find the water. They'll probably pick a stream or a river, that way they can move around but still be close to a water source.

_But what if…_a voice in the back of my mind says.

_Shut up. _the rest of my mind replies.

* * *

Breakfast is tense. I sit between Finnick and Cassius, my two favourite people here, and yet none of us say a word. I'm too busy shovelling food into my mouth to really care though. Who knows when I'll see food again? And this good? Forget it. I'd better eat up while I can.

Finally, I'm stuffed. I look up from the mountain of food on my plate and say, "So? Any final words?"

Finnick nudges me. "Last bits of advice, you mean. I'm confident we'll see one of you again in a while."

Cassius grabs my hand. "You ready?"

I nod. "Ready as I'll ever be."

Finnick looks away. I feel awful for him. Of course _I _had to be his first tribute. He's only 15, just like me, and yet he'll have to go through this for the rest of his life. Being a victor doesn't sound as magical as the Capitol makes it seem.

Nereida looks us both straight in the eye. "You'll be joining the Volunteer pack, so don't worry about having to grab survival supplies in the bloodbath. Stay on your plate, get ready to run for the Cornucopia, locate your weapon, and then do what you must." She's seen real Volunteers go through here, the kind that are excited to preform slow, painful deaths for the Capitol audience at the expense of their sanity and the life of some poor lower district kid. If I die, I don't want people thinking I'm one of those, especially not my mentors. Maybe it'll help them help me.

"Defend, you mean." I say, raising my eyebrows at both her and Cass. The message gets through and they both nod.

"After that, assuming you're still there, get together your survival supplies and whatever else you need in a pack. Even with a strong group, you never know when you might need a getaway, either from them or with them."

We both nod, being in the Volunteer pack doesn't assure your safety, after all.

Nereida straightens. "We should say our goodbyes now, while we have time. I think you're going to have to leave soon."

We all stand around, looking a bit awkward, until I turn and hug Finnick. "Thank you, for everything." I say. People in our little circle have begun to move, so our conversation gets ignored.

"I just wish I could help you more, Alexis. I promise, when you get back, we're going to all pack up, bring everything we need, and go exploring."

"Like pirates." I smile a little. He laughs softly.

"Yes. Like pirates. I'll miss you, but I'll be watching for you. Don't worry. I know I can get you sponsors, if you don't have enough already, for whatever you need. Just…just stay alive."

I nod. It may sound like awful advice, "stay alive", but really, what else can you say?

* * *

_Thank goodness I remembered my necklace, _I think to myself as Emeline outfits me for what might be the last time. The pearl and braided string, the last things I have of home, are wrapped tightly around my neck, so no one can reach out and choke me with it, Emeline had explained. A nice thought, huh?

"You have one minute left." A pleasant, but robotic female voice comes from the speakers above my head. Emeline directs me towards the tube.

"Thank you." I say quietly, before stepping onto the platform. A glass case seals me into my doom. Emeline nods, she seems to be tearing up. I didn't know she cared that much.

"It's been a pleasure, Alexis." she says softly. "I look forward to seeing you again."

"What if you don't?" The question escapes me before I can even register the idea of stopping it.

"I will. Be brave, Alexis. Keep your chin up." she replies, tilting her own head up. I do the same just as the platform under my feet pushes me up towards whatever hell the Gamemakers have planned for me.

* * *

The light coming from what must be an artificial sun in the sky blinds me at first, blocking my surroundings from my view. It doesn't block out the feeling though, which is an immediate blast of freezing cold air. I'm only wearing the white jacket and white pants that Emeline gave, which are thin, but warm. I can feel the chill creeping into my skin though. I have a feeling that my clothes soon won't be enough.

I rub my eyes, trying to get them to adjust quicker. When I open them, my heart sinks. We're far from water, which is my main advantage. Well, actually, I'm surrounded by water, in a cruel sort of way, but in no way is this something I can use.

The arena is a snowy mountain.

The Cornucopia, it seems, is not on the peak, but on a plateau maybe halfway up. In front of me is the Cornucopia, but then behind the circle of tributes I can tell the ground drops off into a cliff. Behind me is the way to the top of the mountain, the snowy peak covered by fog. In the Cornucopia, there are the regular weapons, food, backpacks, and tents, but also odd pieces of equipment, long poles, and flat planks that must have used a long time ago to navigate the mountains. I'm going to have to figure out how to use them soon. Randomly placed around the mountain are cabins, most likely filled with either goods or mutts. I don't like those chances.

Turn my attention back to my opponents; the other tributes. I can see just about half the circle while the rest are blocked by the Cornucopia. It's then that I realize; the Gamemakers have probably by accident, given me a huge blessing. There's not another Career in sight.

Directly on my left stands Jayden, who, despite his size, stands ready for the bell to go, though he doesn't seem to know in which direction to run. Beside him are a bunch of lower districts kids, including Spencer, while to my right is Willow, who's one over from me, and Ash, who's five away. Heather's nowhere to be found.

However, directly on my right is a younger boy, maybe fourteen, who's sobbing and shaking in fear, probably because he's been placed right next to a Career. I think he's from District Five.

"Hey," I whisper to him. He looks up, petrified that I've noticed him. "Hey, it's okay, I won't hurt you. What's your name?" To his other side, Willow looks at me, impressed. I won't return her gaze though, not yet.

"Darryn." he whispers. "I'm Darryn."

"Okay, Darryn, nice to meet you. I'm-"

"I know you." he shivers, but I don't it's because of the cold. "You're District Four."

"Well, actually I'm Alexis Lace. And I'm going to try to help you get out of here, okay?" I don't know why I'm doing this, the kid's going to have to die soon enough. Maybe that's why; he's going to have to die, but he shouldn't have to die without a friend.

Thankfully, he nods. Good, I don't have much time left for this. "Okay. Listen. Willow, Jayden, you too." My two friends, who I already knew were listening, lean in more obviously. I frown, scanning the Cornucopia, then finally spot them; four spears on the left side of the Cornucopia, leaning against the side. "See those spears?" They all nod. "I'm going to go get them. Follow me in, and I'll try to cover you. Hurry and get what you need though, I can't have the Careers come around this side and find me helping you." They all nod again, and position themselves to run. And not a moment too soon, because just as I turn to the Cornucopia I hear the legendary announcer, **Claudius Templesmith'**s voice echo across the mountain, "Ladies and gentleman, let the 68th Annual Hunger Games begin!"

* * *

It's chaos.

I'm one of the first tributes to get to the Cornucopia, with the others close behind.

"Quick!" I hiss, grabbing two of the four spears I'd spotted beforehand. "Grab what you need!" Darryn, Jayden, and Willow duck inside the Cornucopia as I turn to defend the horn, but nothing really happens. I guess the tributes on this side are all kind of scared of me, because no one comes near me. But not many leave either, I only see the girl from District Ten disappear into the fog, running up the mountain and out of sight. Ash and Spencer have found each other, wielding knives and running towards me. I'm not sure what they would have done if I hadn't, but I step aside and nod to them to get inside. They both smile and I follow them inside.

Inside I find, along with a few other odd things I'm not going to bother with just yet, two tridents. I take one and leave the other for later as I run back outside with my group. I'm really hoping they'll take Darryn with him, or at least not kill him right away at this point.

"Where's Heather?" I hear Spencer shout over the noise and general chaos happening.

"Haven't seen her." I reply. "But you need to go, now!"

"SPENCER, ALEXIS, DUCK!" I hear Willow scream. Spencer and I turn towards the sound just as we reach the opening of the Cornucopia and then we both have to immediately dive to the side in order to avoid the knife flying straight towards our heads. We get up and they are about to keep running when I hear a sickening cry from behind me. My allies keep running towards the mountain while I turn to look at the boy that made that sound. Darryn, with a knife through his chest.

I gasp, a single tear falling down the side of my face. Darryn drops to his knees as I turn back to find his attacker.

It's pretty easy to single her out, even among all the shocked faces and my blurred vision. I feel like my eyesight is tainted red as I lay my eyes on the pale white face of the girl from 11, Cara.

She looks terrified, but I'm too far gone to care. The knife was for me, I know it, because even after everything I did in Training, I'm probably still just a Career to the rest of these tributes.

I look back at Darryn's broken body and tears come fully to my eyes. I can barely see, so I don't know how I managed to aim the two spears and a trident that left my hands seconds apart from each other. To be honest, I guess I really didn't.

Nevertheless, I hear each one hit a body and an cry of pain follows. I barely hear it, I don't even process what I've just done as I crawl back to Darryn's body, completely shaken.

I turn him over and he, or whatever's left of him, gives a gasp. His eyes lock with mine and I whisper, "I'm so sorry. I screwed up." The tears threaten to fall again.

With a great deal of effort, he manages to shake his head. "You…tried. Thanks." His words feel forced, but not because he doesn't mean them, more like he's struggling to remember how to say them. "Never…never would have made it anyway. You…you a Career, but you're" he frowns, trying to think of what to say. "You're…not a Career. You…you can do it. Win. For me."

The words tumble out before I can stop them. "I will, I will. For you. Sleep well, Darryn of District Five. I'll see you on the other side."

Darryn gives a final smile to me. And with that, his glassy eyes close for the last time.

Trembling, I stand and walk away to see what damage I've done. This battle isn't over, and, by the sounds of it, neither is this fight.

* * *

Just ten minutes ago, I was Alexis Lace of District Four. Kind, innocent, wouldn't hurt a single human being. Now, I've killed three.

Three people. People with lives and family that I crushed without a thought, too distracted and distraught at the pain they caused to my friend, who I knew basically nothing more than the name of.

One is Cara from District Eleven, the girl who threw the knife in the first place. As much as it seems wrong, that is the one death I think I can be okay with. The other two, the other two were innocents, just like Darryn, with families and friends who would probably very much like to do the same thing to me as I just did to their friends.

One is the girl from District Five, I think her name was Jane. She scored low in training and all around just didn't do well in the Games at all, thanks mainly to me.

The other is the boy from District Ten, Blake. At least I saw his district partner get away, the one smart girl out of all of them, who just stood around, maybe waiting for a chance to kill me for all I know.

It seems that the action has stopped on my side of the Cornucopia. Ash, Spencer, Willow, and Jayden along with a few others are gone while Darryn, Blake, Cara, and Jane are gone for forever. It seems like the fighting has slowed down on the other side of the Cornucopia as well, because I can hear the Careers talking.

"Where's Alexis?" I hear Tiana's voice.

"I don't know, I haven't seen her at all today. She must have been on the other side of the Cornucopia." I give a small sigh of relief at the next voice. Cass. He's still alive.

"Maybe she ran off with her little allies." I frown. Shine's alive then. Damn, I was kind of hoping to get at least one good thing out of the Cornucopia. Anyway, it's time for me to get other there. I take a deep breath, wipe the tears from my face, grab my last trident, and head around the corner.

"You were looking for someone?" Shine jumps, and I smirk at her. I see Cass smile out of the corner of my eye.

"Thank goodness you're here." Tiana says, making Shine expression even more hilarious. "We couldn't afford to lose anyone else on the first day.

The smile that had found its way to my lips slipped away. "What do you mean?"

Gray, who I hadn't even realized was there up until then pointed to boy's body lying facedown in the snow. There wasn't a single drop of blood around it, but I could still tell by its motionlessness that it was dead and I realized who wasn't standing with us. Demetri.

"The boy from Six did it." Tiana growled in anger, but also a bit of fear. Of course, he was her district partner. "Titus. Just walked up, snapped his neck, and ran down the mountain. I followed him as far as I could."

"So I'm guessing you didn't get your mark then." Shine then turns on her. I guess on this side they must have all agreed to kill a certain person. Tiana shook her head.

"I didn't either." Cass broke in, probably to help out Tiana. "I had to fend off that boy, Titus, right before he came at Demetri, and the girl ran off. Knew what was good for her, I guess."

"Well, _I_ got mine." Shine said cruelly, and she pointed to a body nearby which nearly made me cry again, but I couldn't, not in front of the Careers. No matter how much I wanted to strangle Shine right then and there, I couldn't. But I couldn't help staring at the body lying face up in the snow. She was covered in blood, but i could still easily tell who it was. Heather. I remember standing up to the Careers for her in Training, and how shocked and honoured she looked. But I wasn't there for her this time. "And Demetri's too." She continues, nodding towards the body of the male from District Eight.

"I got mine too." Gray says, waving to another body, further away. I almost gasp again. Pascale, Jayden's district partner.

Shine sighs. "So that's _three,_ all done by District One, mind you," I almost roll my eyes at that. "So," she turns to me, smirking, probably ready to show the others, again, why I'm no fit for their group. "did you get any kills?" Her grin gets wider, sure I'm going to say none. I wish she was right, but before I can tell her off, the cannons begin to go for the bloodbath.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

I count them silently.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

"Eight." Tiana whispers, looking at me with something like approval.

Gray begins to recite them. "Okay, so there was one from me, two from Shine, one from the boy from Six, Titus," I sigh, of course a Career would count the number of kills by killers, and not by victims. "That's four."

I sighed, I guess I have to not just explain, but explain like a Career. "The boy from Five got knifed on my side. I got the girl from Five, the boy from Ten, and the girl from Eleven." I say, trying to sound bored and not horrified.

The Volunteers look shocked, especially Cassius. I guess whatever they were expecting of me, it wasn't more kills than anyone else. I turn back to the Cornucopia, trying to seem uninterested in the topic and say, "Let's get this stuff sorted then, shall we?"

And I walk towards the Cornucopia, hoping that the hand I wiped casually across my face to rid it of tears was as casual as I thought.

* * *

**GASP! Eight gone and Titus is in the arena...**

**A recap of the fallen will be done in the next chapter.**


	20. Chapter 20: Can't be Too Careful

**Chapter Twenty - The Fallen**

For the rest of the day, we spend time carefully taking stock of the Cornucopia. Apparently they have mountains and snow in the winters of District One, giving Shine and Gray an unfortunate advantage, but Gray is kind enough to tell us the uses of some of the things we find in the Cornucopia, and Shine agrees unhappily.

The long poles apparently go with the even longer flat sticks that Gray and Shine call "skis", which are used for quickly getting down a mountain. A "snowboard", something else we found in there, has the same use, but is just one giant plank that attaches to both of your feet instead of two planks like the skis.

"Oh wow." I hear Cass' voice come from the back of the Cornucopia. "What's this?"

We all come over to look at what Cass has found. It's a giant machine sort of thing, with handles and seat.

Gray gives a gasp of shock. "That's a snowmobile. We used to have one back home. It can get you up and down a mountain faster than anyone could ever run."

_Translation: _I think to myself. _This is the thing you want to make your getaway in when you leave these guys._

I have been thinking about how and when to leave since we got in the arena. I don't mind Tiana too much, she doesn't seem as awful as most Careers normally are, but I don't think Shine will put up with me for too much longer, even if I did kill three people in the bloodbath, something I have been trying to push out of my mind ever since it happened, which was just hours ago.

We all decide, after setting up tents and a watch schedule, and also donning much warmer winter coats, that we should have a quick ski and snowboard lesson. Gray and Shine just shrug, both saying they want to get some sleep before their watch, which is first. I'm guessing what they both really want is to keep their advantage as much as possible, but I don't argue. I grab a snowboard while Cass and Tiana get some skis and we all head out onto the side of the mountain.

There's a cleared area just above the Cornucopia where we can keep watch and practice at the same time. It's pretty steep, but so is the rest of the mountain, so it isn't going to get much better than this.

I can tell Tiana is wary of both me and Cass, after all, we're district partners, we're bound to want each other alive more so than her, so I give her as much space as she wants. I already have Shine as an enemy, I don't need her too.

Snowboarding is much harder than I thought it would be, but I've always had pretty good balance, and soon enough I can get down our little section of the mountain probably just as fast as I could run it, but using less energy, which is definitely important. I decide to try for more speed tomorrow and retire to watching Cass and Tiana struggle on their skis, laughing every time Cass falls, which is quite a lot, surprisingly. I guess spending my life on the sea and not in the gym was good for something; real life experience.

Soon, the sun is going down and we all head back to the camp to wake up Shine and Gray, which we do quite effectively by shaking each of their tents. When Shine emerges from her tent, hair ruffled and sticking out strangely and very angry with Tiana and me for our methods of waking her, Tiana catches my eye and gives me her first smile I've seen in this whole Game. I grin back, maybe she isn't so bad.

The sky darkens quickly and the anthem begins to play, signalling the start of the death recap. I steel my nerves and look up at the sky, face emotionless, for now.

**The Fallen**, it reads.

The first person to show is Demetri. Tiana face somehow darkens in the night and she looks away. I guess she knew him well before the Games.

Next is Pascale. I can only imagine what Jayden must be thinking now. I hope they're all okay. I haven't heard any cannons since the bloodbath, but you never know what state they might be in.

Both Darryn and Jane from District Five are shown, which also shows that both me and Cass are okay, for now. I feel a try slip off my cheek when Darryn's smiling face is projected, but I keep my eyes on the sky.

District Eight is next, which means that both 6 and 7 are okay. It's the tribute that Shine killed, or, rather, one of the tributes Shine killed.

Next is Shine's other victim, Heather. I want to cry again when I see her smiling and happy, nothing like what she would be now. Both Spencer and Jayden have lost their district partners on the first day.

After Heather disappears again, we see two of my victims, Blake from Ten, and Cara from Eleven. I make myself watch it, it isn't fair to them to do anything but that, and I feel Cass' hand squeeze my shoulder comfortingly as the sky turns black once more, fake starts twinkling in the sky above us.

* * *

I ended up getting the shift after Tiana's, and by myself. I wish I had been able to talk to him, but I didn't want to seem suspicious.

Night watch is, unsurprisingly boring, so I decide to go through my backpack once more to make sure I have everything I might need in case something happens to camp, which I'm sure it will.

Flashlight, sunglasses, rope, food, water, extra clothes, two knives, a net, sleeping bag, matches, and a first aid kit fill the huge backpack, while a snowboard, two spears, and one trident are strapped to the outside. It's super heavy, but nothing I can't handle. I've also slipped two extra knives on a belt holster around my waist as well as the keys to the snowmobile into my pocket. Can't be too careful, can you?

* * *

**Just to be clear, **

**THE FALLEN**

**Demetri, District Two Male, killed by Titus (D6) in the Bloodbath**

**Pascale, District Three Female, killed by Gray (D1) in the Bloodbath**

**Jane, District Five Female, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath**

**Darryn, District Five Male, killed by Cara (D11) in the Bloodbath**

**Nico, District Eight Male, killed by Shine (D1) in the Bloodbath**

**Heather, District Nine Female, killed by Shine (D1) in the Bloodbath**

**Blake, District Ten Male, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath**

**Cara, District Eleven Female, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath**

**Total: 8 - BB, 16 Remaining**

**(And those remaining are...)**

**Shine D1**

**Gray D1**

**Tiana D2**

**Jayden D3**

**Cassius D4**

**Alexis D4**

**Kya D6**

**Titus D6**

**Willow D7**

**Ash D7**

**Jasmine D8**

**Spencer D9**

**Avery D10**

**Aaron D11**

**Damien D12**

**Camille D12**


	21. Chapter 21: And We All Fall Down

**Chapter Twenty-One - And We All Fall Down**

It takes all my focus not to fall asleep on my shift, but I make it to sunrise and can finally wake up everyone else. We all eat breakfast quietly, a mix of different canned fruits we found in the Cornucopia. As I eat, I wonder what my friends are doing now. Did they get any food in their backpacks? Water? Weapons? I hope they're okay.

_Yeah,_ the pessimistic side of me says._ speaking of that…_

I sigh. As much as they are truly my friends, we can't all get out of here. Actually, none of us might get out of here. One, at best. As I look around my camp, I realize that I might have to kill some of the people standing in front of me to help my friends. If I want to get home, they all have to die.

I look over at the one friend I have here. Cassius. There has to be a way to get us both out of here, with as many of my friends as I can at the same time. There _has _to.

I look up the mountain side, wondering if, like my problems, it ever ends. It sure doesn't seem to. I look as far as I can, but a misty fog thickens around the mountain about 5 kilometres up. I wonder what's up there, and what horrors the rest of this mountain holds.

Suddenly, a piercing scream cuts through the silence. The Careers jump to their feet, readying their weapons. When the sound is followed by silence, we all look at each other, confused. What just happened? I'm about to settle back down in front of my tent when I hear the scream again, and a girl's terrified yells cut across the clearing.

"Please, no! Why? I'm your district partner!"

I raise my eyebrows to the others. "District partner?" I ask.

Tiana nods. "Which districts are left? Besides One and Four, obviously."

Cassius begins counting them off on his fingertips. "Not many. There's Twelve…"

"Seven." Shine put in with an evil glint in her eye I didn't like.

"And Six." Gray finished to a silent. "It must be Six."

There's a long pause, followed by another scream from the girl we've now decided to be Kya of Six. It's coming from our right, by maybe a kilometre.

"If Titus is that close, I'm going to go get him." Tiana swallows, then pulls two knives from the holsters on her belt.

Shine gives me a half smile, half smirk and says, "Alexis, why don't you go with her? You're our resident killer, after all."

I tense. I know Shine's winding me up on purpose, but she's doing it well. I take a breath, and get my anger in check.

"Sure. Let's go." I say, avoiding Shine's stare. I grab a trident and strap an extra spear to my back, as well as taking my two knives in my belt and, of course, I still have the snowmobile keys. I should keep them with me, but that's not for now.

Tiana and I run as quietly as can. Kya must have climbed a tree or something to keep out of Titus' reach because her screaming continues. I don't know why she keeps doing that, it's the only reason we're going to be able to find them though.

A thought occurs to me, and I nearly stop running. If Kya knows how close they are to the Careers' camp, maybe she's screaming on purpose, getting us to come and take down Titus while she makes a run for it. If so, it's a smart, though desperate plan.

I can hear that we're very close to the screams when we burst into a small clearing. Kya is clinging to the branch of a pine about fifteen feet up. Maybe she's too scared to go further, for fear of falling into what was below her. Titus, with his sword pointing straight up. If he could jump any higher, she'd by gone by now. Titus hasn't seen us yet, but Kya has. Her eyes bug out wide in terror at the appearance of more, much stronger enemies and she goes silent in fear.

I'm not sure what the plan was supposed to be exactly, but with one look at Tiana I know that this is a kill she wants. Not that I'm going to argue with that, of course. I already have three more of those than I ever wanted. I suddenly remember that Titus was the one who killed Demetri at the bloodbath. Tiana must have known him well before the Games. By the look in her eyes and the silent tears coming down her face, I'm guessing I'm right about that.

Tiana begins to creep towards Titus, whose yelling angry gibberish at Kya, whose holding on for dear life in her tree. She's actually circled past him, making Titus closer to me than Tiana is, which is not something I appreciate. Tiana pulls a knife from her belt as silently as she can, but it makes a scratching sound on the way out of her holster. Titus whips around, sword flying through the air and Tiana makes a wild roll backwards to get out of the way.

Titus is about to advance of her, when I hear a loud crack resonate through the ground. We all look up, confused, and a small tremor passes through my body. As Titus turns back towards my ally, several things happen at once. The ground gives a louder snapping sound and a jagged line appears in the ground, separating me and Kya from Titus and Tiana. A moment's silence passes through the forest, then the crack in the ground widens and Kya's tree drops sideways, sending her tumbling towards the widening crack in the ground. I don't even have a moment to yell to Tiana before the snow in front of me begins to fall away and we all begin to slide towards the new chasm in the ground at an alarming rate.

I scramble backwards like a crab, then flip back up onto my feet. Kya's tree is now acting as a bridge along a several foot wide chasm. It's not too big yet, maybe five feet, but its still growing. Kya's screams cut through the noise of the very ground beneath falling away as she hangs onto desperately to her branch with one hand, dangling above the middle of the chasm. I can't see what lies at the bottom, but I'm sure it's certain death. I hear a roar of anger on the other side of the gap, and I'm glad to see the one good thing that has come out of this; Titus has been pinned underneath the tree, acting almost as an anchor for Kya, as she begins to delicately swing her way across the chasm towards my side. Understandably, she's decided going against one Career is better than one Career and the guy that just tried to kill you and nearly succeeded, but she's having some trouble finding good branches to get her across, so I'm guessing I have some time. Titus begins to struggle his way out of the tree branches, but Tiana throws a knife into the tree and another roar of pain comes from the bush. The ground has levelled out again, and on the other side, Tiana jumps up and runs to the edge, putting as much distance between her and Titus as possible. We both observe the chasm carefully, in case the Gamemakers aren't done just yet. The ground no longer sliding, but the chasm isn't done widening, it's slowly inching backwards, now putting about six feet between me and Tiana. It's only a matter of time before she'll have no chance of jumping the gap.

"Jump." I tell her softly.

"What?!" the look in her eyes tells me just how crazy she thinks I am right now.

"Camp is on this side, Titus is on that one. Take your pick." I counter, raising my eyebrows.

She looks around, taking in her surroundings, then says, "Get out of the way, quick."

I move to the side as she backs up, then takes a running jump at the chasm. And in that same moment, the ground beneath us jerks apart, too quickly, jumping back about three feet and leaving Tiana falling into the darkness.

As if in slow motion, I meet her eyes and see the sudden terror that has replaced her usually calm personality. Her jump falls just short and she slams into the side of the chasm, letting out a cry of pain. Somehow, during the chaos, she manages to grab hold of a ledge about four feet down. Not that far down, but way out of arm's reach.

"Alexis!" she cries.

I quickly take in my surroundings, for anything that might be of some use, and my eyes latch onto a nice, long tree branch hanging from Kya's tree, which is now balanced precariously on either side of the chasm. I feel awful for leaving Kya to fend for herself, but I don't really have a choice now. I run to the tree and begin hacking the branch off with one of the knives from my belt, and nice, strong, longer one, with a serrated part close to the hilt. The branch comes off just as the tree finally gives way and falls into the darkness, silent except for the screams of the girl from Six.

I run back to Tiana as the girl's cannon sounds through the arena, telling us she's gone for good. Titus escaped his leafy prison when the tree fell down, but miraculously decided to run off into the forested area, probably to find his sword. I hurry up, worried he might come back and take us both out while I'm helping Tiana.

I thrust my branch down at her and lean into the chasm as far as I dare. Once I feel the weigh of the branch significantly increase, I slide backwards, carefully pulling the branch up slowly until I finally see her hands scramble back onto land that is not threatening to kill her. Well, land that is not threatening to kill at this instant. Her left shoulder is bloody and a bit bruised, probably from hitting the chasm wall so hard, but otherwise she looks okay, if not a bit shaken up.

"Your shoulder okay?"

She nods gruffly, turning away from me. "Fine. Thanks." I guess her needing help is a bit of a sore point on the Career's pride, but I won't dwell on that now. I can't, actually, but a new problem faces us at that instant. Yells, coming from the direction of camp. I'm sure it's Shine and Gray that are yelling, but I'm not worried about them. One look to Tiana, and I begin to sprint back to camp with only one thought in my mind, saving Cassius.

* * *

**RECAP:**

**THE FALLEN**

**Demetri, District Two Male, killed by Titus (D6) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Pascale, District Three Female, killed by Gray (D1) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Jane, District Five Female, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Darryn, District Five Male, killed by Cara (D11) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Kya, District Six Female, killed by Gamemakers' chasm on DAY TWO**

**Nico, District Eight Male, killed by Shine (D1) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Heather, District Nine Female, killed by Shine (D1) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Blake, District Ten Male, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Cara, District Eleven Female, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Total: 8 - BB, 1 on Day Two (so far), 15 Remaining**

**(And those remaining are...)**

**Shine D1**

**Gray D1**

**Tiana D2**

**Jayden D3**

**Cassius D4**

**Alexis D4**

**Titus D6**

**Willow D7**

**Ash D7**

**Jasmine D8**

**Spencer D9**

**Avery D10**

**Aaron D11**

**Damien D12**

**Camille D12**


	22. Chapter 22: A New Friend

**Hey! It's so nice to see you! Remember to review if you can, I love reading your comments :)**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Two - A New Friend**

Tiana and I sprint back to camp, her, carefully, and me, crashing through bushes and tumbling over fallen logs, desperate to get back to my friend.

_You know he has to die at some point if you want to get home right? _ the evil part of my brain says. _So does Tiana here, who you just saved. And Jayden. And Ash and Willow and Spencer. Why are you just delaying the inevitable._

"Shut up, me." I growl.

"Sorry?" Tiana asks, running alongside me.

"Nothing." I say quickly. _If there's a way, _I think to myself, determined. _we'll find it. And what's most important right now is saving my friend._

As we approach camp, I can hear a strange howling noise mixed in with the battle cries, as if my allies were fighting the wind. What _is _that?

A cannon sounds through the trees that nearly stops me in my tracks. Oh god, what if it was Cassius? Tiana and I exchange a nervous look and keeping running, expecting the worst.

We finally come in sight of camp, and I'm terrified by what I see.

"Wolf mutts." Tiana whispers.

I've never see anything like them. Five of these creatures circle our allies as the attempt to fight them off. with a knife, a ski pole, and a snowboard. Their weapons lay scattered around the campsite. I guess they weren't able to reach them in time, except Shine, who wields a knife. The other two hold a ski pole and snowboard respectively, as if they plan to beat the other, much larger animals to death. Or, in the case of Gray's ski pole, poke its eyes out to death. On the bright side, they're all alive. I wonder whose cannon it was.

One glance at Tiana and I immediately understand the plan. We can both use long-range weapons, so we split up and each sneak over to one side of the circle, about ten feet back. The wolves are so focused on their prey they don't even notice, but I see Gray give me a small nod, as he focuses on stabbing at the nearest wolf with his pole. I have one trident in hand, which should take down one wolf. Tiana has who-knows how many knives with her, so she should be just fine. My spear is strapped to my back pack, so that's a no for now. That leaves the two knives in my belt holster. I've never tried knife throwing, they're so much smaller than spears or tridents, but it's worth a shot.

_Ha. _says a voice in the back of my head. _A pun in a time of crisis. Well done, Alexis._

I resist the urge to roll my eyes at myself and throw my trident, hitting the wolf on the left right in the neck. I hear more howls as Tiana easily takes the three closest to her, leaving me with one. I pull one of the knives from my belt and throw at the last wolf. As soon as it leaves my hand though, I know it's off. I whip my back pack off just as the knife reaches the wolf and hits it in one of its hind legs. That will definitely slow it down, but it only seems angered as it limps its way towards me with surprising speed, dragging its back leg the way I would drag my heavy school bag home some days, like it's an extra, unnecessary limb that I would be happy to dispose of as soon as possible.

I tug at my spear on the backpack, but it seems to be caught on something, maybe one of the buckles. Sighing in exasperation, I lift the entire bag and stab at the wolf just as it reaches me. I smile in satisfaction, but the grin is quickly ripped off my face when I see the expressions of my allies. They're all looking at me, horrified. Well, except Shine, of course. In fact, she looks rather excited, as if she's watching the best television show of all time. What's going on? I open my mouth to ask when I realize they're not looking at me, they're looking behind me. A growl sounding from maybe three feet behind me confirms my suspicion. My trident and spear are both out of reach, so I reluctantly pull my last knife from my belt and turn around just as the wolf pounces.

I fly backwards and crash into the snow, my knife spiralling in the other direction, landing about ten feet out of reach. I thrash, terrified, but the wolf mutt is probably several hundred pounds heavier than me. It bares its teeth at me, exposing the lovely four-inch fangs that will probably be my destruction. The creature's claws sink into my left shoulder and thighs to pin me down, and also cause a lot of pain. My right arm is free, but it takes all of my energy to just keep thinking and not black out at this point. Besides, I'm weaponless, what would I do anyway? Punch him?

I close my eyes in defeat just as the wolf raises one paw, probably to rake across my chest and insure my slow, painful death. If it waited just another five or so minutes I'd probably already be gone thanks to the blood pouring out of my shoulder and thighs wounds. I wince, waiting for the final blow, but it doesn't come. Instead, I hear a whistling sound, followed by a whimper. I open my eyes again just as the wolf's weight crashes down on me. His head smacks into mine, making my vision blur and black spots dance before my eyes.

"Alexis! Alexis, are you okay?" Cassius comes running up to me, and, thankfully, pushes the dead wolf off me so I can breath again. It rolls over beside me and I see the knife embedded deep between its eyes.

"I'm okay." I manage a small smile.

Cassius looks at me, inspecting my wounds. "Yeah right. Oh god, Alex, your shoulder…" he trails off. "Guys! Someone get the first aid kit!"

Tiana comes over, handing Cass the supplies. He begins bandaging my cuts as Tiana walks over and pulls the knife out of the wolf that would have killed me, putting it back to its place in her jacket. I guess she notices me watching and smiles softly at me. "Good knife." she whispers, only loud enough for me to hear. I smile back, maybe, just, maybe, I've made a new friend. She clears her throat a little, looking away. "I never got a chance to thank you. For pulling me out of the chasm. To really thank you, I mean. Then I saw a chance."

I smile again, understanding. "Thanks."

She grins at me. "Hey, what are friends for?"

This makes me smile even wider. "Apparently, for saving your butt from a mutt." I joke.

"Nice rhyme."

"Thank you."

"Okay, I hate to break up your girl bonding moment here," Cass interrupts. "But we need help. You've lost a lot of blood. We need medicine."

At his words, I see a silver parachute with a big number "4" on it float down to us. He catches it and opens up the canister, smiling. "Perfect. Thank you." He looks up, addressing our mentors, or, more accurately, the sky. He looks back at me. "You should get some rest. I can do this, I think."

"Well, fine. I'm so glad to be trusted to your capable hands." I say, ever so sarcastically. Despite my words though, I fall asleep the moment I close my eyes.

* * *

**uh oh! Alexis has an injury! A bad one, by the sounds of it. thank goodness for sponsors, huh?**

**THE FALLEN**

**Demetri, District Two Male, killed by Titus (D6) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Pascale, District Three Female, killed by Gray (D1) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Jane, District Five Female, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Darryn, District Five Male, killed by Cara (D11) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Kya, District Six Female, killed by Gamemakers' chasm on DAY TWO**

**Nico, District Eight Male, killed by Shine (D1) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Heather, District Nine Female, killed by Shine (D1) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Blake, District Ten Male, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Cara, District Eleven Female, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**?, ?, killed by Titus (D6) on DAY TWO**

**Total: 10, 14 Remaining**

**(And those remaining are...)***

**Shine D1**

**Gray D1**

**Tiana D2**

**Jayden D3**

**Cassius D4**

**Alexis D4**

**Titus D6**

**Willow D7**

**Ash D7**

**Jasmine D8**

**Spencer D9**

**Avery D10**

**Aaron D11**

**Damien D12**

**Camille D12**

***one of these tributes just died, we do not know which besides the fact that it was not any of the tributes who appeared in this chapter or the killer of the tribute, Titus.**


	23. Chapter 23: Sponsors and Stars

_How am I still alive? It doesn't feel like I should be. I've been in the Gamemaker's death trap known as the Arena for two days. That's not even one day for each person I've killed to still be here. They say the arena changes you. I've tried hard to stay me, but I now understand. Even if I get out of here, I will never be the same, not after experiencing what I have, after seeing what I have, after seeing the light leave someone's eyes and know that it's your fault. You can't stay the same unless you were already a monster, and that's what I feel like now; a monster. I should be dead. I deserve it. I feel awful right now, though, so maybe I am dead. Am I dead? I should be._

My eyes open slowly to see the top of my tent at the Career camp. _Nope. Not dead. Not yet, at least. _I try to sit up, and nearly fall back down again. My shoulder and thighs are burning with pain, though not as much as before. I wiggle my legs a bit and almost want to cry. _Fantastic. I can't run. _

_At least the wolf got my left shoulder and not my right. _I think, testing out my shoulder too. I definitely couldn't throw with that, not yet. I look around my tent. All my stuff's in here, my knives, my spears, my trident, and my backpack. After a scary thought, I reach into my pocket and fish around. Phew. The snowmobile keys are still there. Next to me, is something new though. A silver parachute attached to a canister. I grin, a sponsor gift! We have sponsors! I open it eagerly, and almost sigh in relief. Thank you so much, Finnick. It looks like some kind of cream, but I know it's so much more. In the Capitol, they can cure almost anything. I sigh in relief as I apply the medicine to my shoulder. I can almost feel the wound closing, my pain seeping away. I do the same for my legs and smile. I'll be up and running in a day, two max. I lean back in my sleeping bag and relax. Who knows when I'll be able to do that again, right?

That's when I hear the whispers.

It's the Careers, outside. I notice that it's dark out, but not too dark, like the sun just set. That means that the death recap will be happening soon.

"She's injured. We can't keep injured tributes around here! She'll just eat up our food and steal our medicine away!" I hear a familiar hiss, and I freeze. Shine.

"No! We're not killing off my friend just because she got hurt. Saving _us_, I might add." Relief fills me again. Cass is out there, he won't let them kill me like that. Besides, I'll be fine soon.

"I agree." I hear a strong voice add and I smile. Tiana. "Besides she's got that medicine, she'll be up and good to go in a day, maybe two at most. That's strong stuff they sent her."

"Plus, we'd end up with four Volunteers left out of fourteen tributes. Why would we get rid of one of our own so soon? It's only the third day!" I almost want to laugh when this final voice chimes in. Gray. I'd love to see the look on Shine's face when everyone took my side over hers, including her district partner. I can almost feel her anger from here.

"Fine. She stays." I hear stomping outside, getting closer to my tent, then something hits the side of the tent. "Get up!" She growls. I look at the side of the tent and a chill goes through my body, and not because of the cold. There's a knife tip stuck in the side of my tent.

"_Someone _has anger management problems." I mutter as I unzip the other side of the tent and walk over the rest of the group.

"What was that?" Shine asks from the other side of the group.

"Oh, nothing." I say, smirking, as Tiana tries to control her laughter. Cassius glances at me and gives me a sort of forced smile, then looks away quickly. I wonder what's up with him.

I nudge his shoulder, "Hey, what's going on?"

Just then, the Capitol anthem begins to play, saving me from any of Shine's snide remarks and Cassius from having to give me an answer. Kya's face shines in the sky, smiling happily, nothing like the girl I saw. Tiana looks over at me and gives me a grateful smile. I guess she's thinking about how that could have easily been her. The cannon earlier, we find out, was for the girl from Twelve. It says her name was Camille. I frown for a moment, remembering when that happened. I'm sure the Gamemakers would have only wanted one mutt attack at a time, otherwise the Capitol audience wouldn't be able to…_enjoy_ it all. So it wasn't them, and it wasn't the Careers either, seeing they were all busy trying to not get killed. I wonder what happened to her.

The sky goes dark again. Two deaths on day two. I see Cassius glance back up at the sky and wince, as if he's feeling the pain that those two girls felt. I walk up to him again. "You okay?" It takes him a while to focus on me, and when he finally does, his eyes look clouded and unfocused. He nods slowly, likes he's taking the time to remember what the movement is. "Fine. Listen, I…I need to talk to you about -"

"Hey! Cassius! You're doing first shift!" Gray yells over to him. He repeats what he did with me, looking over, then nodding slowly. "Sure." He looks back at me, but not really. More like he's looking past me. "Maybe later." He glances up the mountain and sighs. "I wish I had more time…to figure it out…"

"Figure what out?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "Later. Goodnight Alexis." He walks over to the front of his tent and sits down, staring up at the fake stars in the sky. "Why do they bother…"

"What?" He looks over in surprise, and realizes I'm still standing there.

"Making it so beautiful."

I shrug a little, glancing at the sky. "I don't know."

"I think I do." he says, nodding knowingly but not looking anywhere in particular.

"What do you think?" I ask, walking over to him.

He stands, and whispers in my ear. "To hide how ugly it really is."

I'm shocked. It's not like you can really go around saying this like that normally, but not here. _Especially _not here.

Cassius goes back to his post and lies down, staring at the sky. "Stars…" he whispers. "Stars…"

_Okay, something's definitely weird here. _I think, walking back to my tent. I lie down in my sleeping bag and close my eyes again, with one clear thought in my head. _Cassius knows something, and I intend to get it out of him._

* * *

**THE FALLEN**

**Demetri, District Two Male, killed by Titus (D6) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Pascale, District Three Female, killed by Gray (D1) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Jane, District Five Female, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Darryn, District Five Male, killed by Cara (D11) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Kya, District Six Female, killed by Gamemakers' chasm on DAY TWO**

**Nico, District Eight Male, killed by Shine (D1) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Heather, District Nine Female, killed by Shine (D1) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Blake, District Ten Male, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Cara, District Eleven Female, killed by Alexis (D4) in the Bloodbath on DAY ONE**

**Camille, District Twelve Female killed by Titus (D6) on DAY TWO**

**Total: 10, 14 Remaining**

**(And those remaining are...)***

**Shine D1**

**Gray D1**

**Tiana D2**

**Jayden D3**

**Cassius D4**

**Alexis D4**

**Titus D6**

**Willow D7**

**Ash D7**

**Jasmine D8**

**Spencer D9**

**Avery D10**

**Aaron D11**

**Damien D12**


	24. 24: Public Disturbance of Joy and Horror

**Weird title, right? Well, today is Day Five in the arena, but first, we're going to catch up with Annie and Brooke and see how they've been doing!**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Four: Public Disturbances of Delight and Horror

**Brooke POV:** It's been a whole five days since Alexis went into the arena, and nearly a week since we began the campaign to get my parents to sponsor her. She just has to come home, she _has to._

Yesterday, when she was mauled by that wolf mutt, Annie and I were crying nonstop; I was sure she was going to die. All that hard work for nothing, and my parents had nearly given in too. Thank goodness she's okay. Well, okay-ish.

I haven't seen much of my parents at all actually, since they kind of kicked me out for starting what has basically become a riot outside their house. The crowd starts about a half block away and goes right up to the front door. I've been visiting every once in a while, begging them to give in, but for the most part I stay at Annie's. We fish, we cry, we watch the Games. We've been taking the _Samphire_, Alexis' old family boat out almost every day to help feed her parents and Annie's; since both of them have basically become robotic. They barely talk and they never leave the house. It's all we can do to get them to keep eating.

"Hey, Brooke! You're up!" Annie smiles, cracking open the door to her bedroom. "I was about to head out and fish, wanna come?" She forces a grin, I can tell because it's more of a grimace than a smile. We've been trying to keep things normal and keep our spirits up, but it's hard.

I sit up in the bed Annie and I share and rub my eyes. "Nah, it's okay. I'm going to go check on my parents today. Want to meet me there after?"

She nods. "Sure. I'll see you in a couple hours." The door closes and I hear the chimes at the front of the shop echo as Annie exits.

I get dressed slowly, being careful to pick out something nice and "proper for someone of my class", as my parents would say. I finally decide on a silk green shirt and a simple black skirt with a blue leather bag. My mom would call it "casual, but proper". Normally I wouldn't care, but if it means getting Alexis to win, I'd wear anything. High heels even, if my parents asked. Or pink.

I leave Annie's room and pass through the shop on my way into town. I'm about to leave when something catches my eye. It's a net, one of Annie's creations, draped across a section of the aqua blue wall. I gasp, it's perfect. Alexis already has spears and tridents, but no net. If she had a net, she'd be near unstoppable, I'm sure of it. And Annie definitely won't mind if we sent it to her. I carefully pull it off the wall and fold it up, tucking it into my bag. I don't want Mr. and Mrs. Cresta selling it off.

The bells chime as I leave the shop and I step out into the cool air. A chilly sea breeze sweeps past me as I make my way into town. It must be freezing out on the water, poor Annie.

It doesn't take long before I reach the Victor's Village, and a crowd is already starting to form. These past few days have blown me away completely, nearly half the district has been helping little old me and my friends. I always knew District Four was my home, but this has changed the meaning completely. I push my way through the group, but for the most part they let me through easily. I walk up the steps to my old home and knock three times, loudly.

"Mom, Dad, it's me!" I call through the open window. "Let me in!"

I hear my dad's feet stomp down the stairs. The lock clicks and the door swings open. I yelp as a strong hand grabs me and pulls me inside, shutting the door swiftly behind it. The lock clicks shut again, and I look up to see the towering figure of my dad. Bulging muscles, windswept golden hair, he's basically the older version of Finnick, though perhaps less handsome. There's a reason he won the Games.

I stand up slowly, shaking off a bit. "Nice to see you too, dad." I grumble. He cracks a minuscule smile, then goes back to his trademarked frown.

"Serves you right, after what you've done, setting half the district against us." He replies.

"Look, they will all go away as happy little clams if you just help out my friends in the Games!"

"You sure about that? They seem to have a lot of pent up anger towards the victors."

"I'm sure of it. I promise." Honestly, there's no telling what that crowd will do, but I'm not telling my dad that. I just want my friend back.

I can tell my dad's about to argue when a cold voice comes from the doorway. "Oh, let her have it! I'm tired of these stupid district people outside, I haven't been out in days!"

My mom slides into the room. She was beautiful and deadly when she won her Games, and hasn't changed much since. You can barely tell she's aged at all. Despite all that, I run into her shocked arms and hug her, tears sliding down my face. "Thank you so much, Mom!"

She pulls away, a fake-looking smile plastered to her face. "No problem, sweetheart. Anything for you."

_After I set up a riot outside your house, you mean. _I think to myself, but I say nothing.

"Honey-" my dad starts, but my mom cuts him off.

"Oh, what do you care? At least she's finally showing some interest in the Games for once!"

My dad mutters something under his breath, then turns to me. "Just go to the Justice Building and tell them to take the money from our safe."

I take this an excuse to leave and run out the door. "Thank you!" I yell after me. I burst out on the street, startling all my wonderful helpers, most of which are just setting up outside the house. "We did it!" I cheer. "We did it!"

The crowd roars in happiness and I somehow get in over all the yelling, "TO THIS JUSTICE BUILDING!"

I feel myself being lifted up above the crowd, onto the shoulders of several people. I laugh and cheer along with everyone else as we march towards the Justice Building.

I'm dropped off on the steps and enter the building by myself, the pure noise of the group pushing me in. I swear, the Peacekeepers are going to call us out for being a "public disturbance" soon. I'd better hurry.

I pull out the net from the shop and lay it out in front of a very shocked looking worker. I'm guessing they weren't expecting that much noise today.

I clear my throat. "I'd like to send this to Alexis Lace in the arena. The money is in the Mallek's safe."

The girl at the desk frowns at me. "Do you have a key?" she asks skeptically.

I gulp, but draw myself up to my full height and give her my best "I'm so much better than you" stare. I feel back for doing it, but what choice do I have? "I doubt that will be necessary. I'm Brooke Mallek."

The girl's eyes widen in shock. "I'm so sorry miss!" She grabs the net off the desk rather hastily. The Mallek family isn't the mayor's family, but we're pretty up there. Usually unfortunately, but not today. "I can personally guarantee we'll be seeing this in the Capitol by tomorrow morning."

I nod. "Thank you." It takes all my willpower to not jump up and down in excitement right then and there, but I manage to make it outside before I scream out of pure delight. Alexis _will _come home. The crowd cheers and I'm swallowed by the mass of people. It's been a long time since I was this happy.

"Brooke!" I hear someone cry. "Brooke!" I make my way towards the voice and find it's Annie. I wrap her in a huge hug and yell, "We did it! I sent her the net!" I look into her face, expecting her to be as delighted as I am, but her expression is scared and worried. The smile slips off my face. "What is it?"

"Brooke," a tear slips out of her eye. "we have to get back right now. They say something awful's happened to the Volunteer camp!"

* * *

**I'm not sure how much I'll be able to upload in the next two weeks because we're going to be kind of busy for the first one and I'm going on vacation (without wifi...GASP!) for the second week, so hopefully I'll be able to get out another two or so chapters before the end of august but I already have every thing planned, mostly, right up until Claudius Templesmith will announce the victor. I hope you'll like as much as I do!**


	25. Chapter 25: Foggy Mountains, Foggy Minds

**Author's Note: I'm so sorry that this chapter took so long to get uploaded. I don't have much time anymore and I'm trying to really take the time to edit each of the chapters. Don't worry though, I promise that I will not abandon this story, even if it seems like I've stop uploading for a while; it just means that I've not had much free time and so it's been taking me longer with the chapters. Thanks so much for reading this far into my first ever fan fiction story :)**

**I have been forgetting to do this mostly, but I don't own any rights to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.**

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Foggy Mountains, Foggy Minds**

Not much has happened since the wolf attack. Shine has been getting us all out on various hunting trips to try and track down the other tributes, but we've come up with nothing. I thought I'd be easy to find people since the snow leaves very obvious tracks, but there's nothing to be found. I'm guessing the Capitol audience is even more bored than we are.

We've reached day five in the arena with thirteen tributes left. The boy from 11, Aaron, died yesterday for no particularly obvious reason, but I'm beginning to suspect that all these mysterious deaths are tied to one other tribute. Titus.

The other odd thing is Cass. He's been distant since the wolf attack and attacking really…I don't know. Just strange. He'll focus like crazy on some random things, like, the mountain and the stars, but then can barely look me in the eye and focus for more than a few seconds. If I ask him what's going on, well, the closest I've come to an actual conversation with him is me saying "What's up?" and then him saying, "Mountain. Stars. So pretty. So lifelike." I don't get it, but I need him to snap out of it if we're going to get any of us out of here alive.

A cannon fire shakes the mountain and startles me out of my thoughts. I all glance around the camp, but everyone is still there. No hunting trips yet. I wonder what happened. And who it was.

A hovercraft appears in the sky maybe a mile to our right. I frown. That's fairly close, if it's Titus over there he might be on his way over. I look around the site, and see that Tiana seems to have come to the same realization.

"We should go over and check it out. Maybe we'll catch Titus." Tiana says, confirming my suspicion.

"I'll go then. And Gray, how about you come with me?" Shine suggests. Tiana is about to interject when Shine says, "You went on the last hunting trip and besides, someone needs to stay back to watch our poor little injured girl." She sneers at me.

"Hey! That was days ago! I'm just fine, thank you very much." It's true, my wounds healed completely yesterday, but Shine will take any chance she can to point out how weak I am because I got hurt.

"Well, we can't leave the camp unattended anyway, can we?" She counters slyly, still smirking. When no one answers, she turns and nods to Gray. "Let's go." They run off into the trees and out of sight.

Tiana sighs and flops down next to me in front of my tent. "I have to be the one to get him. I just _have to._"

I give her a sympathetic look. I remember the way I felt when Darryn was killed in the bloodbath, and I'm pretty sure she's feeling something somewhat similar. She wants revenge.

I turn over to watch Cass, whose pacing back and forth and the topmost edge of camp, staring up at the overly fluffy white clouds above and muttering incoherent nonsense. If there's any chance I'll have to get him to focus again, it's probably now, while Shine and Gray are out. I walk over and nudge him, breaking his concentration on the sky. "Hey."

He glances down at me, nodding distractedly. "Hey."

I grab him by the shoulders and shake him. "Listen to me." He struggles against my grip, his eyes narrowed but not on me, but the air above my head. "Listen. Focus." With some effort, he looks down at me. "We're in the Hunger Games, Cassius Achille. You need to focus. I don't know what you've been going on about these past days, but it needs to end. Right now."

His eyes seemed to sharpen when I said his name, and his face slowly cleared of that distant feeling as I continue to force him to look at me. He shakes his head a bit, then looks at me. "I'm sorry, Alexis. I've just…I realized something. I think."

"What's that?"

"I…I can't tell you. Not here." He looks around. Of course not here. From all the confusion he's been stirring up, we've probably got the attention of most of Panem.

I nod quickly. "Of course. Just…don't do that again. Okay?"

He sighs, glancing back at the sky longingly one last time. "Okay."

I smile at him, thinking things just might be alright now, but just then something, or, rather, someone crashes through the bushes. And it isn't Shine or Gray, or even Titus.

* * *

It's Avery, the girl from District Ten. I quickly go to stand in front of Cassius, he doesn't seem to have any weapons right now, but the girl just runs straight past us, eyes wide in terror. I'm about to yell down to Tiana, but Tiana beats me to it.

"ALEXIS!"

I whip around to face her and look down the mountain clearing to our campsite, where Tiana…where Tiana is battling Titus. Avery stops suddenly and looks back down the plateau, as if she's just realized where she is. She screams again. "It's him!" She dashes up the mountain, eyes bugged out, and sprints out of sight, straight into the fog, the way she'd gone when I'd last seen her at the bloodbath.

"Cass!" I yell. We begin to run down the mountain, to Tiana's aid. Cassius runs to grab his sword from his tent. I grab an extra spear from the side of the Cornucopia on my way down, but keep running. I stop maybe fifteen feet away, and throw one of my spears, hitting him in the left leg. Both Tiana and Titus roar, one out of pain, one out of anger. Tiana turns to yell at me. "This is my fight! Understand?" I nod, and back up to the front of my tent, but I still stand ready in case anything happens. Cassius runs over to me, probably having heard what Tiana said, but mimics my position, sword ready.

Tiana is a machine, her eyes burning with pure hate as she tackles what I know to be her only nemesis in this arena to the ground. She pulls a knife from her belt and stabs downwards as Titus, who's strength much overpowers hers, pulls himself to his feet. The blade goes short of its goal and hits him in the stomach. It should be a fatal wound, but Titus keep standing anyway. He pulls the knife out as well as the spear from his leg and tosses them aside, right into my legs. I pick them both up, tucking the knife into my pocket and holding the spear in my left hand. Titus' eyes widen even more, if that's possible, as he thrusts his spear forwards, sending Tiana diving to the right to dodge it. He lets out a laugh as he turns back to face her that makes me question whether or not he's completely sane.

A rumbling feeling begins, the same way it did when the chasm appear the last time we saw Titus, but this one's slightly different. It doesn't feel like it's under the ground more like…_above._

A scream rolls down the mountainside as a figure shoots past as fast as she can. Avery. She looks like a cornered animal, eyes wide and defenceless, glancing back up the mountain to whatever must be pursuing her as the shaking grows stronger. And stronger.

"AVALANCHE!" She cries out just as she passes right between Titus and Tiana. It's like she doesn't even realize were there. Titus, however, does, and he tackles both Avery and Tiana to the ground, Avery pinned between the two of the as the noise of everything grows louder and louder.

I turn to Cass. His eyes are wide with fear, but he remains calm and seemingly controlled, just like he used to. I can only hope that it stays that way, at least for now.

"Grab the essentials. Quickly." My voice almost isn't my own. It's low, calm, and cold as steel.

Tiana and Titus tumble down the hill some ways, Avery screaming her head off in between them while Tiana yells just about every curse I know and more, struggling against Titus grip. Thankfully, while he is strong, he not big enough to have a secure grip around the both of them and Tiana breaks free just as Cass comes back into view, carrying a large backpack. I jump into my tent to grab my own. I groan frustratedly when I see that my bag is leaned against the furthest wall of the tent; I didn't plan very well for this. I quickly crawl my way across my sleeping bag and snatch up the bag. I'm about to leave when a sparkle on the bag catches my eye. The snowmobile keys. They must have fallen out of my pocket. I grab them, along with my sleeping bag, and rush back outside, my triumphant smile glowing on my face. Maybe we'll get out of this one alive after all.

Cass is waiting outside my tent, pacing anxiously, glancing ever so often down the mountain to where two figures battle through the mist. I can just make out the silhouette of a girl who must be Avery, lying face first one the ground.

I wave Cass over to the snowmobile parked inside the Cornucopia just as the avalanche comes into view above us. We have maybe 20 seconds before we're swallowed alive. I jump onto the seat of the snowmobile and Cass clambers on behind me as I jam the key into the machine. Lights glow in front of us and the seat rumbles beneath me. Or maybe that's the avalanche. I smash my fingers against various buttons and controls and suddenly we're lurching forward into the fog.

The figures of Titus and Tiana become clearer and clearer as we approach them through the mist. I begin to hear the clash of metal against metal and Tiana's angry cries as they finally come into view.

"Tiana!" I scream. She glances over at us, understanding the situation immediately as I wave her over frantically. I see her head whip back and forth between Titus and us as the rumbling grows stronger yet. We don't have much time.

"Go!" she cries, after what seems like eternity. "I need to finish this!"

"What?!" I protest, but in that instant Tiana turns back to her foe and tackles him. Straight off the edge of the plateau. "Tiana!"

"Come, Alexis." Cass' voice comes from behind me. His hands reach around me and take control of the vehicle easily, turning us away from the scene. "We need to go." Our headlights dance ahead of us as Cassius brings us up to full speed and we fly away into the fog, away from the only real Career I met with a heart.

* * *

**Thanks so much for reading, and I'll see you around! Review if you can, it really helps me out. Thanks!**


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